A daughter's return

In celebration of the centenary of the Communist Party of China, the National Center for the Performing Arts prepares to stage a new Chinese opera production, Chen Nan reports.

When Wang Jun, a young graduate from the Central Academy of Drama, joined in the Opera Troupe of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army as a director in 1990, he could not have predicted the profound effect it would have on his career.

With a resume that now includes acting and directing credits on a number of successful movies and TV dramas, such as Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace and A Little Reunion, he can trace it all back to that fateful first job.

A year after starting, as one of three directors, he worked on a Chinese opera, titled Daughter of the Party, based on the 1958 Chinese movie of the same name. It tells the story of Tian Yumei, a Party member who devoted her life to protect guerrilla soldiers during the Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937).