Pop idol Ma Ke (third from right) will play a blind fashion designer who wishes to restore sight in the Sino-Sri Lankan coproduction You Are Always With Me. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In China, incomplete data shows that the country has around 3 million sufferers of corneal blindness, but only a few thousand corneas are donated domestically every year. After cataracts, disease of the cornea is the second leading cause of blindness in China, according to Yao.

Most of the Sri Lankan people Cui talked to were followers of Buddhism, who believe in the religious theory about the cycle of life and death. "They think kindness in this life will benefit them in the next," she explains.

But in China the culture and tradition surrounding this are quite different.

"Chinese people have a centuries-old tradition which leads them to believe that their bodies are gifts from their parents, and they should not be damaged," explains Cui.

"Most relatives would not be able to accept their loved ones leaving this world without their corpses remaining intact. This has made it very difficult for hospitals to persuade people to donate organs," she adds.

But for Cui, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, this theme has fascinated her for long. The forthcoming TV drama is just her latest effort to raise public awareness about cornea donation, following her directorial feature Mother's Eyes in 2008.

Promotional activities for the movie, which centers on an elderly woman who donated her corneas to her blind son, were cut short following a deadly earthquake in Sichuan province that year.

And now as a mother of a 4-year-old girl, Cui says she has spent more time pondering the meaning of life and her duty as a television industry insider.

"What kind of a person should I be? How can a television drama or a movie exert a more positive influence?" she says of the questions in her mind.

The director-who has signed up to donate her own corneas-reveals that most of the cast and crew members behind the drama are planning to follow her example.