Poster of the ballet The Red Detachment of Women performed by the National Ballet of China (NBC) Photo: Courtedy of Yu Yun

The National Ballet of China (NBC) kicked off a three-month nationwide tour on Tuesday in Beijing. The tour will bring a fusion of national ballet with Western classics as well as the iconic ballet The Red Detachment of Women to audiences.

It has become a tradition for the NBC to perform The Red Detachment of Women every year on March 8, International Women's Day. The immortal power of the Chinese classic always arouses strong feelings in people when they see it. 

During the national tour, audiences will also get to see performances from the younger generation.

The beginning of April will see the performance of one of the oldest and the most staged French romantic ballets, Giselle. It tells the tragic story of a simple country girl, named Giselle, who dies of a broken heart when she discovers her lover Albrecht is engaged to someone else. Returning to haunt him, she joins the ghostly ranks of the Wilis (abandoned brides who rise from the grave to prey on the men who wronged them). But finally, Giselle chooses to protect Albrecht with love and forgiveness.

Also in April, a ballet about the Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes, in Dunhuang, Northwest China's Gansu Province, will recreate glorious scenes depicted in the cave murals to celebrate the selflessness and dedication of Chinese cultural relic workers.

An excerpt from the ballet was once performed on the hot dance variety show Dance Millennium, drawing high praise and attention from ballet lovers.

May will see a performance of Crane's Soul, a ballet based on the true story of Xu Xiujuan, a girl who sacrificed her life to save a red-crowned crane. The ballet seeks to express hope for harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. 

In addition, the ballet Century, is a tribute to celebrate the founding of the Communist Party of China, will also be staged in May. The four chapters of the ballet - sky, mountain, ocean and sun - salute the Chinese soul.

The last ballet performance will be Onegin at the end of May. Based on the novel Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, the ballet is a reflection of Russian social life in the 1820s. The story depicts the awakening of the young generation of that era, and raises many important social issues.

The performance tells the story of the arrogant and cynical aristocratic youth Onegin, who doesn't know about true love and coldly rejects the courtship of the innocent country girl Dagiana. When the two meet again many years later, Dagiana has become a duchess and rejects Onegin's love for her.

After Beijing, the NPC is scheduled to tour major cities including Shanghai, Tangshan in Hebei Province, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Qingdao in Shangdong Province.