Michael Flatley will no doubt bring another wave of tap-dancing fever in Chinese capital when "Lord of the Dance," one of his major creations, is performed in Beizhan Theatre. The last show will be on Sunday.

Synonymous with Celtic dance fever, Flatley produced "Lord of The Dance" in 1996, which has been hailed by critics the world over as one of the greatest dance shows of the past decade.

With his celebrity well established in China for his another smash hit "Riverdance" and for holding the record for being the world's fastest tap dancer - Flatley is most interested in promoting the Irish dance culture during his current visit to China.

"One of my dreams is to have Chinese dancers in our shows," he said on Monday, shortly after he arrived in Beijing.

After he retired from the stage in 2001, the All-World Champion in Irish Dance has focused his efforts on promoting Irish dance throughout the world.

In Moscow, Russia, and Budapest, Hungary, Flatley has established academies to train young dancers. He plans to open a similar facility in Beijing.

Spanish and Russian dancers have joined the cast of "Lord of the Dance." Will a Chinese dancer be next?

"There is still a long way to go, but it won't take long for us to catch up," suggests Yan Ling, a professional dancer since 1956 who has been devoted to the popularization of tap dancing in China.

If Flatley is seeking a partner to run an academy in Beijing, many believe Yan is the best choice.

Yan, founder of two dance schools, was one of the first to introduce tap dancing to Beijing. Yan started to study the dance style in England in 1996.

"We have Hollywood movies such as Singing in the Rain to thank for the introduction of tap dancing to China," Yan said.

"But beyond the big cities, people don't really know about it."

In 2000, Yan and a group of tap-dance lovers, and members of the Beijing Association of Dancers, founded the Tap Dance Society of China.

Since its inception, the society has held annual teacher-training sessions.

To date, more than 500 people have graduated, and gone on to more than 400,000 others.

An annual national tap dance competition was launched last year. Last August, the event attracted more than 300 participants from the United States and China.

On Wendesday, six young dancers competed, in this year's finals, for the title of "China Champion of Tap Dance."

The five-member panel of judges included Flatley and two cast members of Lord of the Dance.

"Within three years, tap dancing will be a major source of entertainment for the public in China," Yan said.

He first encountered the dance style in 1979, when he was performing with the China Railway Art Troupe.

"Our choreographer included some basic dance steps in a dance show that featured the moving train. It was quite impressive," Yan recalled.

He was hooked, and wanted to learn tap dancing. But it was almost impossible in China at that time.

In the 1980s, ballroom and latin dancing swept China, and Yan became a household name, and an authority of ballroom and latin dances, when he hosted daily dancing lessons on CCTV.

In 1996, Yan became the first Chinese representative to attend the annual Blackpool Dance Festival in England.

While sitting through a seminar on ballroom dancing, Yan heard tapping sounds from the next room.

"It was really distracting," Yan said.

To his amazement, and joy, he discovered the room was full of people practising basic tap-dancing steps.

"I joined them, and took to it immediately," he said.

Yan has since returned to England, regularly, to participate in intensive, two-week tap dancing classes.

Yan eventually passed the teaching-certification examination in Britain, and, as a result, became the first Chinese to be certified to teach tap dancing in any region of the world.

He decided China needed tap dancing.

"Tap dancing is a great source of entertainment," Yan said. "It is exciting, lots of fun and easy. Anyone who knows how to walk can learn. Anyone can practice tap dancing anytime and anywhere."

Yan established two schools devoted to tap dancing. Both are based in Beijing. One caters to amateurs; the other, young professionals.

The schools were a near-instant hit.

Tap dancing has grown in popularity since last fall, when "Riverdance," one of the world's most famous tap-dancing shows, was performed several times in the Great Hall of the People.

Many people believe, however, tap dancing still has a long way to go in China.

"Many people want to copy 'Riverdance,' but no one's heard of 'Savion Glover,' one of the greatest tap dancers of all time," said Aly Rose, one of last year's national tap competition winners. She has also taught tap dancing to many of Beijing's earliest tap dancers.

"We need more education in order for tap dancing to develop to its potential. It is not about flashy costumes, but about becoming an orchestra of rhythm," Yan agrees.

"After four years of development, we've hit a bottleneck," he said. "We are still at the initial stage. One of our main problems is we don't have enough competent teachers."

In contrast with the public craze, professional dancers and producers in China have a bias against tap dancing.

"They look down on tap dancing, and regard it as a low-quality dance form that can be picked up easily. They are reluctant to invest in it," Yan said.

But Yan is not pessimistic about the future of tap dancing in China.

"We've just started, but we are catching up quickly," Yan said. "My ultimate goal is to create a style of tap dancing all our own, a Chinese-style that incoprartes our own dance culture.

"And, someday, hopefully in the 2008 Olympics, we can show it to the world."