As Canberra and Beijing enter a new phase in their sometimes rocky bilateral relationship, Jansson J. Antmann talks to some of the people who have paved the way in cultural exchange, presenting musical theatre productions, operas and classical music events in China since 2000.

In this in-depth feature – part one of a two-part Limelight digital exclusive – we hear from GWB Entertainment’s Torben Brookman, soprano Sarah Brightman (star of the recent Sunset Boulevard) and State Opera South Australia’s Artistic Director (and conductor) Dane Lam about their experiences working in China and their thoughts on the enormous opportunities (and occasional challenges) doing so presents for Australian artists in the future.

Shenzhen’s Poly Theatre. Photo Wanghongliu / Wikimedia Commons

Enter the Dragon

China, Land of the Dragon, a civilisation dating back more than 5,000 years, and a cultural mecca with an insatiable appetite for Western culture since the National People’s Congress adopted its ‘Going Global’ strategy at the start of the new millennium.

Though the Mao-era repression of non-Chinese culture started to be rolled back in the mid and late 1970s, when institutions such as the Central Conservatory...