Eventually, in an era when there were so few television sets in the country that families and villagers used to mill around a communal set to watch programs, the first episode was aired on May 2, 1987, eight years after Wang had had his brainwave.

As television has become gradually universally available in China over the past 30 years, viewers of all ages have clamored to see the 1987 TV series, and TV stations around the country have replayed it a total of more than 3,000 times.

And just as The Forsyte Saga set the standard for period dramas all those years ago, Wang's production of Dream of the Red Chamber set a benchmark for television producers in China for years to come.

So when the series celebrated the 30th anniversary of its first airing recently, Ouyang Fenqiang, who played one of the main characters in the TV series, the rebellious and pampered young man Jia Baoyu, decided the crew members of the TV series needed to be brought together for a reunion to mark the occasion.

After six months' preparation it took place in Beijing on June 17, 101 actors and crew members gathering in a concert held in the Great Hall of the People. The audience of about 5,000 was taken down memory lane with songs, dialogue and photos from the series.

Ouyang, 54, an actor-turned-director, has written a book, 1987, Our Dream of the Red Chamber, published in Beijing, which features the reminiscences of leading actors and crew members about their acting in the TV series and its making.

"Initially I didn't want to do the reunion," Ouyang says. "It was a daunting idea in so many ways. I was in constant contact with just a few actors and crew members, most of us having lost contact over the years, and I was unsure about who would want to take part. After all, 30 years is a long time, and we had all moved on in our lives."

In fact, it was impossible that all those involved with the series would attend the union. For one thing, one of the leading actors, Chen Xiaoxu, died of breast cancer at the age of 42 in 2007. That same year, Chen, who played one of the main characters in the series, an introverted and sensitive young woman named Lin Daiyu, had come to public notice again when she was tonsured at a Buddhist temple in Changchun, Jilin province.

Even though the reunion was the biggest for those involved in the 1987 TV series, it was by no means the first. In 2003 more than 70 actors and crew members got together on the CCTV show Artistic Life.

"When I received many replies from those who said they could attend the concert I was reassured about my decision," Ouyang says. "Some had been living and working overseas for years, so it really did feel like a family reunion."

Of the days when the series was filmed, Ouyang says: "We were all very young then and about the same age. We spent three years together, and that left us memories that are priceless."

Those who saw the reunion concert were not just middle-aged people but also young people born after 1980 and 1990, he says.

"What is a great honor for us is that over the years many people of different generations have enjoyed the series."

The novel has been interpreted in many different ways, through movies, Chinese traditional opera, Western opera and theatrical drama. These adaptations have often stirred passionate debate among those in the know, in particular about which is the most authentic.