Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe will stage The Family Who Collected Books, a new piece in their repertoire, at Beijing's National Center for Performing Arts on Aug 20 - 21, troupe leader Mao Weitao has announced.

Scripted by Guo Xiaonan, the opera is based on the stories of the legendary Fan family of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, who 400 years ago built Tianyige, which today remains the oldest collection of ancient books in Asia.

On Aug 11, the troupe donated a book and an album about their artistic creations centering on the ups and downs of the Fan Family and their continued efforts to build the Tianyige private library in the capital's National Library.

Tianyige Museum also made donations - two sets of duplicated ancient books (56 tomes), one about imperial exam records of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the other about imperial edicts of the Song Dynasty (960-1279).