Quotes of the Day

Beijing theatergoers enjoyed a long-awaited treat last month. To stately phrases from some of Bach's cello suites, one of the world's most acclaimed contemporary dance troupes glided through 70 minutes of mesmerizing, Tai Chi-inspired choreography, culminating in a finale that saw the stage flooded with water. Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has presented its signature work, Moon Water, to ovations worldwide, but given the political rivalry between Taiwan and China, the company's recent turn in Beijing — its first in 14 years — was far from just another tour date.

Call it the summer of love across the Taiwan Strait, at least where the arts community is concerned. While political tensions simmer on other fronts — China's military buildup, Taiwan's ongoing bid for U.N. recognition, the Olympic torch route, to name a few — cultural exchanges have never been healthier. Cloud Gate is just one example. The largest group of terracotta-army artifacts ever to leave China (116 in total) is another: it was on exhibit last month at Taiwan's National Museum of History, before embarking on a world tour that will include London's British Museum and a sweep through the U.S. The exchanges are also taking place with avant-garde productions. Taipei drumming troupe U-Theatre recently wrapped an islandwide tour of A Touch of Zen, a show about the spiritual travails of a martial artist that features kung fu masters from China's famed Shaolin Temple.

Those steering Taiwan's arts scene say cross-strait traffic has grown steadily over the past 10 years or so, helped by China's economic rise and fewer government restrictions from both sides. Stronger financial support for Chinese performers traveling to Taiwan has come in the wake of China's new wealth. So has a flurry of private arts promoters, keen to bring Taiwan artists to the mainland, where they are a big box-office draw. But deeper processes are at work, too. "Culture doesn't take sides, so the issue of arts exchange isn't so sensitive," says Lin Chao-hao, director of international cultural exchange for Taiwan's Council for Cultural Affairs. "It's also a good use of soft power to bring Taiwan and China closer together."

That approach appears to be working. For Cloud Gate, which has performed at arts festivals in Shanghai and Guangzhou in recent years, the return invitation to the Chinese capital carries political weight — seen as the mainland's nod toward the island's contemporary-arts scene (even if not to the nascent Taiwanese democracy in which the arts have thrived). Mainland Chinese are "beginning to realize what has happened in Taiwan's artistic environment over the last 40 years," says Hsu Po-yun, director-general of the International New Aspect Culture and Education Foundation, a Taiwan arts-promotion body. "They take it seriously."

The goodwill is being reciprocated in Taiwan, where the suspicion that works from the mainland have ulterior political motives has almost entirely dissipated. When the terracotta army made its first trip to Taiwan in 2000, some in President Chen Shui-bian's independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party interpreted the exhibit as a veiled attempt by Beijing to whip up pro-China sentiment. This time around, no one so much as raised an eyebrow. "People used to ask why bring this or that production over," says Wu Jing-jyi, who formerly chaired the National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center. "Now it's easy; no one questions it anymore."

A few hurdles remain, of course. Lines of communication must be handled carefully. To bring the terracotta army over from Xian this year, Taiwan's National Museum of History had to negotiate the deal through a third party (exhibition sponsor United Daily News Group) because high-level government-to-government contacts are forbidden. And no one expects progress on the issue of the National Palace Museum collections in Taiwan. The Chinese government still views the museum's holdings as stolen loot, spirited away by Chiang Kai-shek's army when it retreated to the island in 1949; curators in Taipei don't dare let the artifacts travel to the mainland for fear that they might not return. (Sportingly, China has loaned objects in the other direction — earlier this year, the National Palace Museum received 12 sets of rare 12th century porcelain from Henan, and gave them big play in a grand reopening exhibition following a long renovation.)

But while they're not immune to the hot and cold winds of politics, artists and curators have become adept at taking shelter from them most of the time. "After all, we share the same traditions," says Yeh Wen-wen, Cloud Gate's executive director. "From both sides, we can appreciate how hard it is to become a creative artist." Doing away with decades of mistrust isn't easy either, but artistic communities on both sides of the strait can take a well-deserved bow.

• Julia Ross/Taipei