"My days were very difficult, because the standard we set for ourselves was very high. I felt that I wasn't only writing for the audience of that time but also for people of the future."

Both the TV series and the soundtrack he wrote proved to be a classic, the album now having a rating of 9.8 out of 10 on review site Douban.

The soundtrack, with 12 pieces, is being merged with Peking Opera in an upcoming concert, Jingyun Honglou (Dream of the Red Chamber in Peking Opera style), to premiere at the National Library Arts Center toward the end of this month.

The veteran Peking Opera composer Zhu Shaoyu, who is responsible for the concert's music and sound design, says: "The story has been staged many times, in different regional traditional opera styles. But to present these well-known songs in Peking Opera style is a first, and I believe it's a more powerful way of presenting them."