Celebrating a memorable song

"Before the reform and opening-up, songs performed on TV were similar－grand performances dealing with big topics. But after that, a diversity of music styles started to emerge and songwriters tended to depict personal emotions."

During the concert, Li will perform her best-known hits, including Homeland Love, My Motherland and Me and Unforgettable Tonight, a song which has been used as the closing song for the annual Spring Festival Gala for 32 years.

Speaking about Unforgettable Tonight, Song Guanlin, the general manager of the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, the organizer of Li's upcoming concert, says: "It is a slow, smooth song, which is like a happy ending to the gala. For Chinese audiences, the gala is not over until it is performed. It has become a tradition."

Li, who was born in Kunming, Yunnan province, began her music and theater career at the age of 15, when she started studying huaguxi opera, a folk music and dance art form in Hunan, at the Hunan Art Institute.

She then worked with the Hunan Huaguxi Opera Theater from 1961 to 1974 as an actress.