Director Zhang Yimou (middle)

Helmed by director Zhang Yimou, and the creative team behind the Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, the new operatic production promises advanced concepts and modern approaches. Multimedia techniques will be used to create magnificent scenes. The world's largest video images, projected by 32 cine-projectors on a 1,000-square-meter screen is deployed to accommodate the audience at the gigantic venue.

Zhang Yimou said, "Despite the gigantic size, the stage design is simple and powerful. The blocks, lines and dots have comprised a simple and modern setting. The Chinese palace is reduced to a silhouette, one that provides the basic backdrop to the story of love and hate."

The story of "Turandot" originates from a collection of 17th-century Persian stories called "The Book of One Thousand and One Days." It was then adapted into a play by Carlo Gozzi.

Around 1910, Giacomo Puccini heard the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower". The tune inspired him to create an opera containing Chinese elements. "Turandot" was the result based on Gozzi's play about a Chinese princess and a Tartary prince.