Participants were performing a scene of "Daiyu Burying Flowers" from the Chinese classical novel?A Dream of Red Mansions in the Beijing Botanical Garden April 17, 2007. A national competition for the role of Lin Daiyu, the heroine in pop TV series adaption of Chinese classical novel is held in Beijing, arousing much attention among the public.

A new "Grand View Garden" will be built in northeast Beijing's suburban Huairou District for the remake of the TV series A Dream of the Red Mansions, for which shooting will start this October.

Beijing Youth Daily quoted Huairou District authorities as saying that the new garden, named Changqing TV Creation Industry Garden, will locates beside the lake resort of Yanqi. Total investment in the building process is to reach nearly a billion yuan (US$125 million).

The drama A Dream of the Red Mansions is an adaptation of the classical Chinese literature work written by Cao Xueqin in the 18th century. The novel is considered one of the greatest masterpieces in China's literary history.

The protagonists of the novel, a small circle of aristocratic youths, live in a spectacular garden called "Grand View Garden".

From 1984 and 1989, a "Grand View Garden" was built as the film location for the 1987-version TV series A Dream of the Red Mansions in downtown Beijing.

Huairou District authorities have said that the shooting base in the Changqing TV Creation Industry Garden will closely follow descriptions of the novel's own "Grand View Garden".

Construction and decoration work is expected to start in June, and to finish by the end of September.

The garden will also embrace actor training, TV production, tourism and business facilities.

A Dream of the Red Mansions was translated on silver and TV screens several times in the 20th century. The TV version shot in 1987 has remained a hit over the past two decades.

(CRI.cn May 21, 2007)