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.