A stage photo of the award-winning play Where Azaleas Bloom. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The stage play Where Azaleas Bloom produced by Nantong Art Theater won the highest group award for stage art in Jiangsu province at the fifth Jiangsu Wenhua Awards held in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, on Oct 24.

The stage play revolves around the story of teachers in Hai'an, a county in Nantong, who volunteered to teach students in Ninliang Yi autonomous county, Yunnan province.

Three other performances from Nantong also won awards at the ceremony.

The song You Are a National Hero is about the renowned patriot Han Zishi who helped develop the local economy and improve the wellbeing of local residents when he was the governor of Jiangsu.

The magic show Plum Blossom Melody is about a woman from Jiangnan painting and writing with magic tricks. During the show, the performer takes an umbrella from a painting she has drawn and writes Chinese characters without touching the paper.

The acrobatics Chasing Space Dream is a pole jumping performance staged by a group of acrobats.

Approved by Jiangsu provincial government, the Jiangsu Wenhua Awards is the top art award in the province.

As an important part of the awards, a tour of outstanding performances at the fifth Jiangsu Wenhua Awards was held in Nantong, Changzhou and Yancheng from Sept 25 to Oct 11.

More than 10,000 residents in Nantong watched the performances at local theaters and over 1.2 million viewers watched the live broadcast of the tour via the mobile app Nantong Fabu.