A dancer plays the role of the Fairy from the moon. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Xin Lili, director of the Shanghai ballet troupe gave a detailed introduction about the inspiration and production of the Song of Everlasting Regret on Nov 23 right before the debut. She said that the English version of the original poem deeply moved her and made her determined to put on a ballet adaptation of the poem. It took her team three years to polish this ballet and they designed a fairy from the moon to represent the final destiny of the emperor's love.

Director Xin expressed her appreciation for the support from Beijing audiences in the past 30 years. She noted that Shanghai Ballet Troupe has always strived to "tell Chinese stories on the world stage" and will go on to put on better productions which reach out to contemporary audiences.