At the same time, the classic piece The Sleeping Beauty is one of the most-loved of classical ballets, combining in a single work all the charms and virtuosity that ballet has to offer.

"Sleeping Beauty is always connected with the Royal Ballet, from the perspective of ballet, The Sleeping Beauty performed by Royal Ballet is definitely royal."

As Beijing is the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, and London will be the next one in 2012, the Royal Opera House, which is proud of its long, great history and the extraordinary artists, shares the same understanding with NCPA that the two sides should keep up a long-term cooperation. ROH's China tour is also an important project for China Ministry of Culture's Olympic cultural event. Here is Tony.

"We've never had a relationship with any other theater outside the UK before, this is the first theater we have a partnership and agreement. If you know London, Covent Garden Art Theater, the opera house is right in the heart of London, so we have a partnership with the new theater; right here in the center in Beijing, for us it's very important."

Performance of Chinese bellet will also be performed in ROH later as Tony introduced.

"I am very pleased that via, through ballet we'll here in Beijing in June, we'll also get the national ballet in China and some other things from China in the royal opera house in Covent Garden at the same time. I think I just demonstrate how two organizations thousand kilometers apart can actually do things together, and really have a strong valuable relationship that can last many years."

(CRI April 5, 2008)