Story in Beijing representative Gao Jiancheng Photo: Courtesy of Zhao Xin

A total of 20 performances will be staged at theaters across the country in August for the annual Story in Beijing performing season, the event's organizers announced on Wednesday. 

Under the theme of Growth and Accompanying, this year's season will feature stage dramas, Peking and Kunqu operas and modern dance performances. 

According to drama critic Yang Qianwu, during the past eight years the performing season has staged 170 outstanding theater works for audiences not only in Beijing but also in other cities.  

This year's Story in Beijing will see shows like Encounter Life, Hero Wu Song, which tells the story of Wu Song, the hero in China's classic novel Water Margin, Yabao Road, a story about the first generation of shop owners along the well-known bazaar road in Beijing; and an Yueju Opera adaptation of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's A Letter from a Strange Woman.