Liu and Han are Chinese dance masters who excel in acting as much as in dance. Dancers Ya Qin Han and Xin Jiu Liu reside now in Santa Clara County, and work with Ann Woo, their administrative director.

Xin Jiu Liu has been a professional dancer with the renowned Shanyang Dance Company in China, since the age of 14. Later he became the principal dancer and the leader in charge of training the company dancers. He was well-known for portraying various characters in famous dance dramas such as Dagger Society, Silk Road Episode, The White Hair Girl and others.

From 1979 to 1982, Liu was sent by the Shanyang Dance Company to study choreography at Beijing Dance Academy. In the past 15 years, he toured all over China and Asia with various dance companies. In 1993, Liu won the highest honor as a dance performer awarded by the Cultural Ministry of China.

Ya Qin Han grew up in Shanyang City and has a similar background as Liu, her husband. She was the female principal dancer of the Shanyang Dance Company and made the perfect match for Liu as his dance partner. This couple immigrated to the Bay Area last October with "first preference status" (people of extraordinary ability and internationally famous.)

Liu and Han will perform the The Liang-Zhu Story. This dance is based on a 2000 year old folk tale. This version was choreographed by the dancers themselves, and is one of many duet pieces created when they were the principal dancers of the Shanyang Dance Company in China.

A girl named Zhu Ying-Tai disguises herself as a man to pursue school away from home because women are not allowed to study in ancient China. At school, she becomes very close friends with her classmate Liang Shan-Bo.

One day Liang accidentally discovers Zhu’s true identity. He instantly falls in love with her. The vignette draws to a close at this happy point. However, when fully played out, the traditional tale ends in tragedy. Both lovers die broken-hearted, crushed by the invincible obstruction from Zhu family, a kind of Chinese Romeo and Juliet tale.

First appeared in People Like Me 2000