"We want to take their dream for an ideal life of the literati to the contemporary age, and make it relevant to everyone," says Zhang.

"In the past we had numerous collaborations with artistic institutions such as the Shanghai Ballet and Shanghai Opera House, but this is the first production for which we have full copyright."

SGT brought together veteran artists from the Nanjing-based Jiangsu Kunqu Opera Theater, young playwright Luo Zhou and theater director Ma Junfeng, to create the original Kunqu Opera play from the autobiographical prose. Luo says that prior to the premiere she was most touched by the sadness Shen Fu expressed upon losing his wife. "So I decided to start the play as a recollection: Yun has died when the curtain rises, and Shen sits in loneliness waiting for her soul to come back."