Books, With Love, a play about the ups and downs of a publishing house over the past 30 years, debuts at the Moby Theater in Beijing. The play tells a story of four young people and their choices in the publishing industry in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A Chinese publisher partners with a theater company to present a story of transformation over the past 30 years.

A publishing house in China has found a creative way to celebrate its achievements over the past 30 years since its founding - through a stage play.

The play about the publisher debuted last week at the Moby Theater in Beijing, drawing cheers and tears from the audience.

Books, With Love (Zhi Duan Qing Chang) is a production of China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House and Moba Drama.

Sun Yue, who works for Moba Drama and is the play's director, says in preparation he spent months talking to a large number of employees of the publishing house that his company partnered with for the project, to get to know their personal stories of the past three decades, including from some former employees.

Before the play was written, Sun says he was concerned about the future of the publishing industry, especially with the relevance of print declining in the high-tech information world.

"Where is publishing headed?" is a question he says he asked himself earlier.

The play presents answers, he adds.

"It is not a chronicle retelling of the publishing house's history," Sun says.

"It is a story of four young people and their choices in 30 years in the publishing industry that touched me, and will touch many more."

Shang Hui, who is from a digital media company affiliated to the China Publishing Group, wrote a poem to express her excitement after watching it.

"It is bittersweet," she says of the play.