A life of silver linings

Cloud Gate performs Lin's work, White Water, inspired by a river named Liwuxi in south Taiwan. After 46 years at the helm of Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, choreographer Lin Hwai-min prepares to pass on the mantle to the next generation, Chen Jie reports. The day before, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, the company Lin founded in 1973, won the Stef Stefanou Award for outstanding company, one of the UK's national dance awards presented annually by dance critics from The Guardian and The Times newspapers. "It's the best birthday gift I could have received," Lin told a recent news conference in Beijing to publicize Cloud Gate's ongoing performances in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai through April 27.