Many of the performers are middle-aged people who actually lived through the past 30 years. Director Liu tells them just to "live" rather than act.

He says the inspiration for the exhibition, in part, comes from an installation art exhibition in Germany. But this is a bold experiment in China, where this genre of art is still new to many people.

The exhibition drama runs for 10 hours (10am-8pm) daily and at different times of the day, the audience will see different scenes.

For example, they are likely to find residents doing physical exercise together in the morning playing cards and chatting in the afternoon, and enjoying the cool of the evening watching familiar old movies in the open air.

If they are lucky, some visitors might even catch an old-style wedding ceremony in the neighborhood and be invited to the banquet.

Visitors can also join the cast to revive the past and even use coupons that come attached to their entrance ticket to buy things in the lane from people such as the children's book seller, the breakfast seller and the boiled egg seller.

Uncle Jiao, whose real name is Jiao Dianjia, points at the hair oil, soap flakes and matches in his grocery store and explains how difficult it was to find those properties from 1978.

Other typical pieces from family life were also difficult to find such as a wooden toilet bucket, an abacus and old-fashioned radios and television sets. Apparently some were found in the city's dismantled old housing areas.

Through the characters, the exhibition also examines hot topics from 30 years ago, from housing problems for large three-generation families to people studying for the university entrance exam which resumed in 1977, renewing the dreams of so many young people.

"The housing problem for my character in the drama used to be an obsession for my own family," says the 60-something Jiang, an amateur performer. "Participation in the drama makes me really feel the big changes that have happened around us."

In the eyes of Qian Minghua and Dong Jingjing, Shanghai Theater Academy students who play Uncle Jiang's son and daughter-in-law, the drama seems like a live documentary leading them back to their parents' lives decades ago.

"It is a rewarding experience for us to share the memory of our parents, and understand them better," Qian says. "We're much happier than them. It is necessary for us to cherish our current life."

Fang Liang, a 46-year-old visitor, is so deeply moved by the familiar scenes that he feels the exhibition should be permanent. "There are always some trifling affairs that make us forget the past,'' Fang says. "We used to have simple joys and close neighborhood relationships. Nowadays the old shikumen lanes in Shanghai are disappearing. We need to preserve that lifestyle.

"I think it is important for children and young people to learn how the city evolved," he says.

Date: through September 15, 10am-8pm

Venue: Duanjun Theater of Shanghai Theater Academy, 630 Huashan Rd

Admission: 80 yuan

Tel: 6248-5600, 6217-2426

(Shanghai Daily September 11, 2008)