Jin Shifei, playwright/director. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Fan Xinying, the manager of Beijing Nine Theater, who helped launch the annual Gold Hedgehog College Students' Theater Festival since 2001, says more than 1,300 drama clubs from over 1,100 universities across China had participated in the theater festival until 2016.

"Students are creative and open-minded about theater. Though they were not theater majors and most will not work as professionals in theater after graduation, they are interested and passionate about theater. Every year, we are surprised to receive works that offer fresh perspectives about our societies and lives. It's quite inspiring," says Fan.

Jin points out that Tsinghua University has a successful history with original dramas. In 2001, an original play titled Zi Jing Hua Kai premiered at Tsinghua University, marking the university's 90th anniversary. Adapted from a Chinese movie, Roaring Across the Horizon, the play tells the story of China's first successful atomic test in the 1960s.

In 2013, another original play, Ma Lan Hua Kai, was staged on campus, which chronicles the life of Deng Jiaxian (1924-86), a leading nuclear-physics expert and a major contributor to China's nuclear-weapons programs. The play has toured nationally and has been staged 52 times. Jin says that the play has become a must-watch for Tsinghua University students.

"These stories, which are rarely told through commercial theatrical productions, are closely connected to Tsinghua University since many great Chinese scientists studied and worked there," says Jin. "The firsthand materials helped us tell a good story."