We are alike in lots of ways - we went to the same school, the Shanghai Conservatory, when we were young. [Ding Feifei specialises in the erhu, while Ding Wei - also an erhu player - majored in musical composition and classical piano.] It was a pretty rigid and strict life: English and culture classes in the morning, our majors in the afternoon and heaps of practice in the evening. That sets us apart from other pop singers. That is still true in certain aspects even if we are now living in different cities. [Ding Wei moved to Beijing in 1995, while Ding Feifei divides her time between the capital, Shanghai and Hong Kong.] We are signed to different record companies [Ding Feifei to Universal; Ding Wei to BMG] so we had hardly worked together until the past year or two when we worked on material that appeared subsequently on each other's records. The upcoming performances with Secret Garden will be the first time we perform live together. It's like a childhood dream come true. We are alike in the way we shun the glam that comes with a career in the music industry. We don't hang out in nightspots. Not that we're tucked up in bed early; we'd just rather be idling at home until 2am or 3am than heading off to crowded places. Ding Wei: Although I am not a nine-to-five person I still prefer some order in my life so I get up early. Well, the earliest I can manage, since we sometimes go to bed in the wee hours. I used to get up at 1pm or 2pm, but there are a lot of things that can be done only during daytime - companies and ministries aren't open in the evening. There are a lot of telephone calls to make, so I get out of bed about 10am. If schedules permit, I'll cook myself breakfast. If I have to rush into town for business, I often forget about eating until late afternoon. I don't deliberate much on what to eat - bread, maybe, eggs or some [Chinese] pancakes. It's rare I have anything fancy because it's not like Hong Kong where you have all kinds of eateries just downstairs. If Feifei's here, I'll make more of a feast: she doesn't really know how to cook so it's up to me. We have a studio in Beijing where we can do production and hold small performances, but usually I'm doing music for films and television so I spend a lot of time at home in front of the computer. I am the kind of person who would worry about not having done one useful thing during the day, so I stick myself in front of the computer for hours. Feifei is much more a free spirit than I am - sometimes she sleeps until 4pm or 5pm. Ding Feifei: I am freer than Wei in terms of organising my schedule. I usually write songs late into the night so it's pretty impractical to go to bed early. I know girls have better skin if they do that, but sometimes work doesn't allow us to have such a disciplined lifestyle. I have something to eat after getting up and a coffee - that's an old habit. If I'm in Shanghai my mother will make something for me. If I'm alone elsewhere, maybe I'll have a bao [bun] to go with the coffee. But I love to eat. I always have three meals a day: lunch at about 6pm and then xiaoye [a late-night meal] at about midnight. I love Japanese, Italian, French or Sichuan food. And crabs - I eat lots of them when they are in season. I don't like going to lavish places. Unless I'm treating friends, I usually go to small restaurants selling xiaolongbao [small buns with pork]. Ding Wei: I love eating spicy stuff. Sichuanese dishes such as shuizhuyue - fish cooked with all sorts of spices - are my poison. I used to load myself up with them, but it doesn't do my voice any favours so I restrict my intake to once a month. Ding Feifei: I'll do a bit of work, play some computer games, then work some more. It's quite flexible. Shanghai is a good place to enjoy life - but not a good place to do creative work. I only spend time there because our mother still lives there. If I want to do some serious work I hop on a plane to Beijing. Ding Wei: Beijing's got an atmosphere I like. Feifei has asked me several times why I refused to move back to Shanghai and it's because there are so many temptations there: great places to eat, shop and play. You're easily distracted. Also, in Shanghai you worry about how you look. Do I have make-up on, or am I dressed properly? In Beijing you can dress shabbily wherever you go - they respect you for your abilities and talents, not your attire. Ding Feifei and Ding Wei: We listen to a lot of music so that's where all the cultural influences come through in our work. We don't want to do edgy avant-garde stuff, but we have to understand what is going on out there. We love unearthing things that not even the Americans or the British have heard of. We spend a lot of time in the studio listening to loops and samples. We don't listen to the crappy mainstream songs that are everywhere. Ding Feifei: The hit with [British dance act] Way Out West is a surprise. A colleague at my label gave them my song Forgotten Moon and they remixed it without me knowing. It went into the British charts but not much publicity work was done about it. Ding Wei: When I signed with BMG, Andy Lau Tak-wah was on the same label. He had just founded his own company New Melody Music. He offered me a publishing contract and later he chose three of my songs for his own records. He was willing to provide opportunities for newcomers, for which I am grateful. I wrote a lot of songs between 1995 and 1998, because I'd just moved to Beijing and I was under quite a bit of financial pressure. That's when I realised that just being a singer wouldn't guarantee me a stable income - so doing creative work, writing my own songs, was the only way I could make a steady living. Ding Feifei and Ding Wei: We did do some shopping this time in Hong Kong but it's all about work, isn't it? What clothes to wear for the photo shoot - it's not like we are having fun shopping. We do enjoy it back home, of course, but not here, not when we are working. Ding Feifei and Ding Wei perform with Secret Garden in the opening performance of this year's New Vision Arts Festival. Tue and Wed, 8pm. Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. $120-$380 Urbtix. Inquiries: 2370 1044.
