The 2018 Contemporary Theater Biennale in Shenzhen is now on. Chen Nan speaks to the brain behind the event.

Chinese theater director Meng Jinghui has the habit of storing poems on his smartphone. On March 16, he read a poem titled Reminiscence of Marie A., by German theater playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht (1889-1956), in front of about 700 people in the hall of Shenzhen Children's Palace.

"It was a day in that blue month September. I held my beloved lover beneath a slender plum tree. My love looks so pale and silent. It seems that she were a dream that must not fade," Meng read.

With that poem, Meng opened the 2018 Contemporary Theater Biennale in Shenzhen's central Futian district.

The 10-day event features exhibitions, plays, forums and workshops to be held in theaters, a library and public spaces in Shenzhen.