Sisters of Yinan

Chinese ballet, inspired by the wartime contribution of the local women of East China, will premiere in April, Chen Nan reports.

The National Ballet of China premiered its production of Ode to the Yimeng Mountains in Beijing in May 1973, as a tribute to the residents of Yinan county in East China's Shandong province who supported Communist troops during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the following civil war (1945-49).

The local women, known as the "Red Sisters", not only helped these soldiers by making shoes and clothes for them, but sometimes even sacrificed their lives to protect them.

Ode to the Yimeng Mountains was adapted into a film in 1975 by August First Film Studio of the People's Liberation Army.

The ballet piece has been part of the National Ballet of China's repertoire for decades.

With this year marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the National Ballet of China has revised the classic into another production, titled Yimeng - A Ballet in Three Chapters, which will premiere in Beijing on April 19 and run for three days after that.