BEIJING--China will stage a version of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's unfinished opera "Turandot" with an extra 18-minute "Chinese ending," state media reported Sunday.

"Turandot," which is set in old China, will be performed at the National Grand Theater in Beijing from March 21 to 26, the Xinhua news agency said.

The additional 18 minutes of music and song are the work of composer Hao Weiya, and will feature two new characters that will better express the two themes of the opera, love and heroism, according to Xinhua.

Puccini had not completed "Turandot" at the time of his death in 1924, and the job was left to another Italian composer, Franco Alfano.

For decades, the Communist government in Beijing banned staging of the opera in China, arguing it painted a negative picture of China. It was performed for the first time here in 1998.