"These distinctive features of Yueju Opera, however, posed a great challenge for us when working on an anti-graft theme like that of Zouma Yushi, which would demand a hard, strong feeling," says Wang Wenlong, director of the production.

He says they worked out several methods to present an atmosphere of solemnity as a way to accentuate the encounter between right and wrong. One of them was an integration of the performance styles of Peking Opera and Wuju Opera, a folk opera also originating in Zhejiang, while adding drum beats, by which they managed to intensify the intended stage atmosphere of tension and power.

"While showing the artistic accumulations of Ningbo, we also wanted to create a new performing style, a new example of Yueju Opera," he says.

The troupe also staged a classic play, Zhui Yu, at the NCPA. The two productions marked the beginning of a diverse program mounted by Ningbo Performance and Arts Group to showcase the city's drama traditions in the nation's capital, according to Lin Hong, chairperson of the group.

A dance drama on the past and present of Ningbo as a major port, titled Great Port in the East, will be staged at the NCPA in mid-May, which will be followed by another dance performance in late June about the great composer Xian Xinghai (1905-45) whose masterpiece Yellow River Cantata has been inspiring patriotism for nearly a century.

Lin says the productions will show the cultural strength of the "made in Ningbo" artistic brand at the country's premier theater.