Actors perform 170 Days in Nanking on stage. [Photo/Xinhua]

The opera commission 170 Days in Nanking commemorating the efforts of protecting lives during the Nanjing Massacre will be staged on the National Center for the Performing Arts on April 24.

The opera is set in 1937 when Japanese invaders began to bombard Nanjing indiscriminately in September of that year. John Rabe, representative of Siemens China Co., in Nanjing, established the International Committee for Nanjing Safety Zone with 20 other foreigners to provide the humanitarian relief to local civilians.

In the most difficult days since then, the committee negotiated with the Japanese embassy and the military and protected the lives of 200,000 refugees in the Nanjing Safety Zone.

Co-produced by Jiangsu Cultural Investment and Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, the opera's debut was in December 2016. The production team is comprised of artists from 16 countries and regions.

"I wish that the audience can be touched by the brilliance of the humanity from this opera instead of the horror of killing," the composer Tang Jianping said.