Trying to solve the riddle of a mystery man

Director Chen Kaige's latest biopic of Peking Opera Master Mei Lanfang Forever Enthralled premiered in Hong Kong on New Year's Day - much to the delight of a troupe of China's top performers, who happened to be staging a show.

The irony, perhaps, is that these stars might not have been in Hong Kong, or onstage at all, for that matter, if it weren't for the legacy of Mei, who breathed new life into the dying art form.

Director of the Mei Lanfang Peking Opera Company Li Hongtu saw no overlap of his and the master's lives. But the 45-year-old still felt Mei's "touch", he says.