The director adds that when it comes to portraying the inner struggle of Qi about changing his art style from gongbi to xieyi, two characters appear onstage to symbolize two different voices in Qi's head.

"We used huadan (young, lively female characters) and wuchou (comedy, martial arts characters) to personify the two different voices — one attempts to persuade Qi to maintain his original style, while the other tries to push him to pursue a new direction," the director says.

Veteran Peking Opera composer Zhu Shaoyu wrote music for the Peking Opera production. He says that the music brings a sense of warmth and humor, just like Qi's paintings.

"We opened the production with a popular children's song and the melody of the song runs through the whole show from time to time," says Zhu, adding that elements of Jingyun Dagu (storytelling in Beijing dialect with drum accompaniment) are featured in the production.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn