You've seen his film "Hero," or if you're lucky, you might have even see his work in Puccini's opera "Turandot," but director Zhang Yimou has recently decided to dabble in Peking Opera, making his longtime wish come true.

"You and Me" is Yimou's homage to the traditional artform and also a National Day holiday gift for Chinese audiences.

"It's been three years since director Zhang Yimou's last commercial work, "The Flowers of War." Now Yimou is putting his attention where tradition is. With Peking Opera, "You and Me," the director is telling a stroy that's quintessentially Chinese both in content and aesthetics." Julian Waghann said.

A table and two chairs.

It's a reductionist and symbolically Chinese approach to the notion of the family.

"You and Me" is a story of filial love inspired by an old royal tale of Chinese history, about a King who was caught in a political conspiracy stirred up by his mother. He punishes her by keeping her in jail for years, but comes to terms with his mother at the end.

The chairs and table shrink and enlarge into the set, sometimes taking on the form of a veranda, sometimes becoming the frame of the palace. It ingeniously but sensibly accommodates the hero's inner journey of making peace with an 'enemy' with whom he shares not only the same roof but the same blood.

"The aesthetic value of Peking Opera lies in its symbolization and conceptualization. You don't need to actually travel the world to depict a journey and you don't need thousands of people to create an army. I hope that 'You and Me' will present such an aesthetic to the public." Zhang Yimou said.

And audiences have been quick in taking a liking to Yimou's aesthetics and have been thrilled to see the director himself sitting amongst them on opening night.

"I'm very pleased with Yimou's reductionist approach to stage design and direction, and of course I'm also here to see the stars of Peking Opera because its an art of the 'jue'r'or personalities." Sun Yu Min, President of Beijing Dramatists Union said.

"You and Me" is a story of filial love inspired by an old royal tale of Chinese history, about a King who was caught in a political conspiracy stirred up by his mother.

Three generations of legendary masters of Peking Opera have all united on stage at the NCPA. Mr. Shang Changrong who plays the main character the king, is one of the most celebrated Peking Opera artists today. He carries off the "Jing" or the primary painted-face role in "You and Me" with impeccable precision and fervor.

"In directing the opera, Yimou emphasized one word, "qing", which is an opera style that will be able to touch the audience, letting out their emotions and passions. And you can't go wrong with that." Shang Changrong, King of "You and Me" said.

What director Yimou humbly describes as an "hommage" to Peking Opera, is in fact something he knows too well, the art of simplicity and universality.

"It was a very familiar and powerful theme that we could appreciate and take forward and say this was a worthwhile experience."

If staging Puccini's opera "Turandot" inside the Forbidden City, where the story actually takes place, brings the opera "home" to China , Zhang Yimou's study of "You and Me" is a historic milestone that will put Peking Opera on the world map again.

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