Performers rehearse The Rickshaw Boy, scheduled to premiere at the National Center for the Performing Arts on June 25.

"It is completely a Mahler-style symphony," the composer says.

"I cried after finishing this part. I cried for Huniu, for Xiangzi, and also because I finally wrote an opera for Beijing, the city where I've lived for more than 30 years."

Adapted from a classic novel of the same title by Lao She (1899-1966), the opera tells the story of Xiangzi, who lives in old Beijing and believes he can improve his life if he works hard but is unable to make it.

Guo says he had several stories in mind but never thought of Lao She's books. When the National Center for the Performing Arts commissioned him and recommended the story in 2012, he re-read the novel and realized that the dramatic plot, strong emotions, vivid personalities of the main characters and their tragic fate were all rich sources for an opera.

"I've lived in Beijing for three decades, witnessing dramatic changes every day but I don't think Beijingers have changed, even compared to Lao She's time," he says.

He views a modern day taxi driver as Xiangzi and woman as Huniu - tough on the outside but soft inside. In summer, he says, you can still see the "rude, half-naked men getting drunk in hutong", in the same way men did a century ago. All these elements of the city helped him shape the characters in his opera, Guo says.