Ten years since its debut, China's original ballet "Raise the Red Lantern" was staged in Germany to rave reviews. Making its first appearance at the Hamburg Opera House, the combination of Chinese opera and Western ballet has successfully brought local audiences to their feet.

On Tuesday, the three-hundred-year-old theatre was fully packed with local ballet fans.

It's a stage adaptation of Zhang Yimou's 1991 movie of the same name, telling of a rich man who has forcibly taken three wives.

Zhang himself directed the ballet, and the fusion of spectacle and a Chinese story that won him his cinematic reputation resurfaces successfully on stage.

Typical Chinese elements are sprinkled throughout the ballet. For instance, the first night after the husband and his new wife are married is presented in an effective shadow-play.

An audience member said, "Although the story and the cultural background are strange to us, the ballet itself is fabulous. There are plenty of fresh elements integrated into the play, which make it a new ballet experience for us."

According to Feng Ying, Artistic Director of the National Ballet of China, the biggest draw of the play lies in the body language of traditional Chinese culture.

Feng Ying, artistic director of National Ballet of China, said, "More and more people in the world are curious about Chinese culture and eager to learn more. And they love to see a ballet, something they are familiar with, deal with the subject."

This tour to Germany coincided with the tenth anniversary of creation of the ballet "Raise the Red Lantern", which has been performed more than 400 times around the world.