Road to the Heavenly Plateau: Dance drama tells about construction of world's longest plateau railway

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02:13

And here's another dance drama taking place in Beijing - this one about the process of building the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the world's highest and longest plateau railroad. The story covers three generations of construction workers that were involved in the project. Take a look.

The story of the Qinghai-Tibet railway construction has been revealed in various artforms before, but this is the first time it's told through dance.

The drama focuses on how three generations of a single family took part in the project. Their experiences form the real narrative of those years.

WANG DUO, DIRECTOR "ROAD TO THE HEAVENLY PLATEAU" "We just want to tell the audience about how the construction workers contributed their youth and energy to the railway project through our stage performance. We hope the audience will be inspired, and feel their passion and persistence in chasing their dreams."

Before the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, transporting passengers and goods to and from Tibet mainly depended on highways and aviation. These routes often came under huge pressure.

Construction of the railroad was a long-cherished dream for generations of Chinese people. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a landmark project in China's implementation of the Western Region Development Strategy. It's the first railway to connect the Tibet autonomous region with other parts of China.

The 1,956-kilometer-long railway began service in July 2006. Once it was fully open and operating, it broke the bottleneck that had long restricted Tibet's transport options.

To get an idea of the conditions the railway construction workers experienced, the drama production's whole crew went to Tibet to see and feel the environment for themselves. After its Beijing debut, the dance drama will tour the country. It will finally be performed in locations along the railroad to Tibet. LQ, CGTN.