Dance drama Goddess of the Luohe River is performed on Sunday evening, April 6, 2008, in Zhengzhou, Henan in central China. [Photo: cnr.cn]

A dance drama telling the touching story of how a virtuous girl Fu turned herself into the respectable Goddess of the Luohe River was staged recently in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province, reported China National Radio's website cnr.cn Monday.

The 100-minute long stage performance comprises a prelude and four chapters. With head of Zhengzhou's culture bureau Qi Anqing as the playwright and top-grade choreographer Liu Lingli as the director, the song and dance drama has all its performers carefully selected from around the country.

The tragic but solemn legend tells how Fu, the most beautiful girl in Fuxi clan, threw herself into the turbulent waves in order to seek peace from the earl of the river-"Hebuo" for her fellow tribesmen. Her husband Zhi was later turned into a withered tree.

The couple has never succumbed to Hebuo's powerful threat and torture after they separated from each other. They continued their heart-to-heart communication in their dreams.

Luohe River starts in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province and flows into Henan Province.