"The sun rises, not from the east, nor the west, but from the heart…With kindness and love in your heart, you can extend a thousand hands to help others…[and] a thousand hands will also be extended to help you."

So goes the lyrics during celebrated choreographer Zhang Jigang's latest dance piece entitled Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva, a grandiose celebration of the Buddhist deity's noble spirit of harmony, benevolence and self-sacrificing love.

A story of sacrifice

Zhang - best-known outside China for his participation in directing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics - has assembled 400 dancers from the Taiyuan Dance Troupe of Shanxi Province to perform his latest work, which shares the title of his internationally-acclaimed dance.

The drama, which debuts Thursday at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and runs until February 1, draws from the legend of the Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva.

In the story, the ancient country of Dai is attacked by a plague and the king himself falls ill. With his life at stake, the youngest of his three daughters sets out on an arduous journey for the magical lotus flower which can save his life. The eldest meanwhile, who covets the throne, sends a servant, Tongzi, to rob the princess of the flower and prevent the king from surviving.

After suffering countless hardships, the princess finally finds the flower; but to save her people, she must become the Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva and continue to suffer hardship while helping others.

"The message the production wants to convey is harmony," Zhang, whose latest works include music and dance epic Road to Revive and new epic Peking Opera Red Cliff, said.

"What the audience will see on stage doesn't need any explanation because it is what the Bodhisattva thinks about, and her state of mind. She can talk to hundreds of birds and live with various plants. It is such a harmonious scene.

"The Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva is extraordinary. She is not you, nor me, nor him. But she is also common… she could be you, me and him," he added.

In addition to audiences appreciating its grandeur and splendid staging, Zhang said he also wishes to let them see the "purity of the earth" through his staging.

We Recommend:

Fictional Reality, Sino-French Digital Art Exhibition	China's top 10 representative architectures announced	Lin Xiangxiong exhibition opens at Peking University