Having already made a name for himself as one of China’s top film directors, Zhang Yimou has made no secret of his desire to branch out into international stage musicals — an ambition the director of Hero and Flying Daggers will soon see come to fruition with his high-profile musical Qin Shihuang, about China's first emperor, which is expected to feature one of the world's biggest singing voices, Placido Domingo.

Zhang has arranged to jet off to America for the annual session of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he will make a formal announcement about his plans for the musical.

Zhang is thought to have assembled a strong creative team with Oscar-winning Tan Dun as composer and acclaimed Chinese American writer Ha Jin as playwright.

The date for the international premiere of Qin Shihuang at the New York Metropolitan Opera has been set for Dec. 21, 2006; it will later come to Chinese audiences at a more imposing venue — the Great Wall — in 2008.

Qin Shihuang is not Zhang's first musical — his last was Impression Lijiang, which stemmed from his experiences while shooting the movie Lonely Ride over a Long Distance in the picturesque Lijiang region of Yunnan Province.

The making of Impression Lijiang, which started in June 2004, saw Zhang team up with his old partners Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue — who cooperated with Zhang on his first ever foray into musical Impression Liu Sanjie.

Impression Lijiang musical was hailed as trailblazing experiment which authentically reflected the true lives of people without using professional actors, stage artifice, or even a plot line.

Instead, the Impression Lijiang performers were recruited from local villages in Yunnan, of whom Zhang said "Each of them is an artist."

In contrast, Zhang's new musical about China's first emperor is said to mark a return to his trademark grand-cinema directing style.

Despite his hectic schedule, Zhang is still obsessed by the thought of doing his bit for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. "I regard it as my great honor and pleasure to make promotional films for the Beijing Olympics. I will do it for no payment," he said.

(Shenzhen Daily August 17, 2005)