Ahshima is a legend of the Sani people, a branch of the Yi national minority. The beautiful Sani girl, Ahshima, was in love with Ahhei, a brave shepherd. The son of the village head Ahzhi tried to force Ahshima to marry him, and the girl was even put into prison. Seeing a defiant Ahshima and her lover coming to her rescue, Ahzhi, furious and jealous, released floods by magic means and drowned the couple. At last Ahshima returned to nature by turning into a beautiful stone statue and remained in the Stone Forest forever.

The dance drama Ahshima was jointly created by Zhao Huihe, Zhou Peiwu (1936- ), Tao Chun and Su Tianxiang, and composed by Wan Li and Huang Tian. Ahshima totally broke away from the traditional way of storytelling in the creation of dance dramas. Centering on the love conflict between Ahshima, Ahhei and Ahzhi, dance scenes of different colors -- black, green, red, gray, golden, blue and white -- were designed to reveal the different characters of each role in a meticulous and exquisite way. The audience all marveled at the pas de deux and pas de trios of the three leads, as well as the colorful and brilliant traditional dances of the Yi people in different scenes. In Ahshima, the creators, with their rich life experiences and profound artistic skills, endeavored to maintain the original flavor of the ethnic minority in the dance drama.

Ahshima won the Wenhuan Grand Award in 1994 and was listed as one of the Dance Classics of the Chinese Nation in the 20th Century.