Chinese musical Fleeting Clouds debuts in Edinburgh

A scene from the musical, Fleeting Clouds Mansion.

Chinese musical Fleeting Clouds Mansion on Thursday made its international debut in Edinburgh with beautiful stage background of World Heritage city Suzhou in southern China and a real insight into the regional Chinese culture.

Fleeting Clouds musical is a moving love story revolving around the so-called GuoYunLou books, a series of encyclopedic books containing a thousand years worth of knowledge collected between the Song and Qing dynasties in Suzhou.

Set in the early 19th century, a bridging point between imperial China and modern China, the Fleeting Clouds musical begins just before the Sino-Japanese war, telling about how upper class scholar Gu Heyi, the protagonist and the third generation of his family to own the Fleeting Clouds Mansion and its extensive collection of books, and his family successfully protected the priceless and valuable ancient books from being looted by the Japanese.

In real life, these books were auctioned in 2012 for a record-breaking 33.9 million U.S. dollars and China's Phoenix Publishing and Media Group, who had won the bid, commissioned the Fleeting Clouds Musical to celebrate their cultural significance.

About 600 audience including honored guests such as Helen Moonie, South Aryshire Provost, and Chinese Consul General in Edinburgh Pan Xinchun enjoyed the musical and hailed the performance and presentation of the Chinese culture.

As part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe from Aug. 1 to Aug. 25, the Fleeting Clouds Mansion will be performed consecutively for three days to Aug. 2.