Lin Hwai-min's Nine Songs by Cloud Gate. Liu Zhenxiang / For China Daily

National Museum of China leads the way

Chou back with her big sound

Mogao Grottoes murals prepped for digital display

Meanwhile, dance lovers can look forward to Cloud Gate, arguably the best Chinese contemporary dance company, American Ballet Theater, State Ballet Berlin and our own National Ballet of China.

When choreographer Lin Hwai-min established Cloud Gate in Taiwan, in1973, he named it after a dance mentioned in the Chinese classics. Lin is an expert at creating epic dances that evoke Taiwan's distant or recent past. His early works were narrative and later turned toward abstract meditation.

From Feb 28 to March 2, Cloud Gate will perform Lin's Nine Songs at the National Center for the Performing Arts, which is inspired by Nine Songs, a cycle of poems written by Qu Yuan (340-278 BC).

In 2009, American Ballet Theater impressed Beijing audiences with their astonishing performances.

In March, they will return to the NCPA for Swan Lake and a mixed modern show featuring cowboys and cowgirls.

National Ballet of China is currently touring Canada, but after returning, it will invite Wang Xinpeng, who created the company's trademark Raise the Red Lanterns, to choreograph Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. In September, the company will present Don Quixote.