Haili

Setting up possible contacts for China, I talk by email to the delightfully named Bingbing - Arts Manager at the British Council in Shanghai. And, out of the blue, I get a phone call from a woman in Manchester called Haili Heaton, who Bingbing contacted straight away. Astonishingly, Haili was a Yue performer as a child, and has just written a thesis on the form. She's really excited about what we're doing, and (of course) knows all the Yue XiaoSheng (literally "Young Man" - played by women in Yue opera), and everybody else personally. She even made a film of Yue - which I didn't even know existed.

We arrange to meet in a couple of weeks time. Then she emails me about four times. I think she's even more excited than I am.