Face behind the mask

Most performers of Peking Opera begin training at 7. Iranian Ghaffar Pourazar began at nearly five times that age.

"I was a big joke in the basic training class. I was 32, most of my classmates were kids and the youngest was only 6," he recalls with a smile.

This former computer animator, who was educated in Britain, is said to be the first foreigner to undergo and complete formal training in Peking Opera.