The great dame inspires bright lights of the theater and literature

Nine years ago Tong Xin, a graduate of the Shanghai Theater Academy who had spent three years working in advertising, decided to quit his job and pursue his passion for theater.

It was a decision that many of his friends were highly skeptical about, given that he had never produced a drama before. However, Tong's wife, Lin Yi, who had studied with him at the academy and is a director and actress at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, gave him her full backing.

The pair adapted one of the most popular and best-selling thrillers of Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, into a drama, which premiered in Shanghai on Nov 29, 2007.