Taiwan's entertainment scene has a mild-mannered "girl next door". The singer and actress is also a song, book and movie scriptwriter. Her name is Rene Liu, also known as Milk Tea.

On March 8, International Women's Day, Liu will give a concert at Capital Gymnasium to treat her fans in Beijing.

Called Sleepwalking with Rene, the concert will be the third performed by Liu in Beijing and is sure to transport the audience on a dreamy adventure.

"Personally, I love sleeping and dreaming. Bustling reality gives people too much pressure and dreams are a way to escape from it. When I dream I find myself free and relaxed to do whatever I want," the 37-year-old Liu says.

"The setting, music and atmosphere of the concert will also be dreamy and romantic and I invite all my women friends to share a musical journey with me."

After graduating from high school in Taipei, Liu studied classical music at California State University, after which she joined Taiwan Rock Music, starting as an assistant for Bobby Chen.

Her breakthrough year was 1995, when she released her first album and started acting. Director Sylvia Chang cast Liu as the lead in "Xiao Yu". Her performance won her the Best Actress award at the Asia Pacific Movie Festival in 1995.

Though Liu's music career didn't start as well it did prosper eventually. Her breakthrough was in 1998 with "Love You More and More." It was one of the best albums of the year, and Liu was finally recognized for what she loves most, music.

Liu's fans call her "Milk Tea" because her soft and mellow songs have a creamy sense of nostalgia and sad romance.

Chen Jie

7:30 pm, March 8

Capital Gymnasium, Baishiqiao Lu, Haidian District, Beijing

8528-2090

(China Daily March 1, 2008)