Sisters of Yinan

"We decided to produce a new ballet based on stories of the Yimeng Mountains rather than rehearse the original, because we wanted to give new life to the local stories," says Feng Ying, head of the National Ballet of China.

The National Ballet of China celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

"The history of ballet in China is not long. We not only perform Western classic works but also bring out original Chinese ballet productions," Feng says.

One of the most famous original Chinese ballet pieces is Red Detachment of Women, the country's first original ballet production, which premiered in the capital in 1964 and is best known in the West as the ballet performed for former US president Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

Feng says like Red Detachment of Women, Ode to the Yimeng Mountains and Yimeng - A Ballet in Three Chapters all feature Chinese elements. For example, yangge, a popular rural folk dance of Shandong, has been featured in the latest ballet.

Composer Liu Tingyu, 79, who wrote some of the music for the 1973 production Ode to the Yimeng Mountains, is also working on the latest ballet. Besides classic music pieces, Liu is adding new musical elements to the production, such as Chinese drums and erhu.

He had visited Yinan multiple times in the 1970s when working on the ballet Ode to the Yimeng Mountains. Liu, who graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and joined the National Ballet of China in 1965, says he remembers the spirit of the local people of the county.

"Though the stories are very old, they still deserve to be known by the younger generations."