Composer to show Xian Xinghai's tough Soviet years

In Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, a street is named after Chinese composer Xian Xinghai.

The musician, known for the piece Yellow River Cantata, was stranded there after a pro-Kuomintang warlord blocked his return to China. He died in Moscow in 1945.

Jonathan Shen, founder of Shinework Pictures, a Beijing-based studio that works on coproductions with foreign companies, tells China Daily that his company has teamed up with Kazakhstan filmmakers to make a biopic on Xian called Composer.