Cirque du Soleil, a Montreal-based circus and entertainment company, staged its Toruk: The First Flight in Beijing from August 1 to 12. Inspired by Hollywood director James Cameron's movie Avatar, the show premiered in December 2015 in Montreal. It is set 3,000 years before the events depicted in the movie, when humans hadn't yet set foot on the fictitious planet Pandora.

The show features staggering stage and visual effects using a huge screen the size of five IMAX screens, over 40 projectors, along with large-scale puppets. The dangerous acrobatics performances along with the original musical score of the film afford the audience an amazing experience.

The show, a collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and Cameron's production company Lightstorm Entertainment, was shown from February to May in the Atlantis Resort in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. It will tour Shanghai after its Beijing stop.

China has become an important market for Cirque du Soleil after Fosun International Ltd, an international investment company founded in Shanghai, acquired a 25-percent stake in the company in 2015.

Last year, the circus brought its touring show Kooza to Beijing and Shanghai which proved to be a commercial success. It is planning to bring more shows to China in the future.

(Photos by Wei Yao)

Copyedited by Laurence Coulton

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