Yung, founder and co-artistic director of Hong Kong experimental theatre group Zuni Icosahedron, was invited to work with Japanese film director Makoto Sato on the video.

Only artists who had taken part in artistic and cultural exchanges between Japan and China, who produced joint works and who had the ability to express a message that would resonate in Asia and the world were eligible for the job.

Story of the Crested Ibis is just one of many theatrical works by Yung that blend traditional Chinese opera forms with modern theatre. An advocate of experimental arts, Yung started his modernising tradition more than a decade ago.

His One Table Two Chairs series, started in 1997, marked the beginning of his experimenting with traditional Chinese theatre. Artists had to develop a 20-minute theatre work with two performers with the traditional Peking opera theatre set - one table and two chairs.

'Despite the elaborate customs and make-up, there are plenty of modernist elements in traditional Chinese opera,' Yung said. 'The one table two chairs setting is an example. It is a standard setting, simple. The simplicity allows room for imagination. The same setting can be a study, or a living room, or something else. It allows many combinations and variations.'

Flee By Night, shown at this year's Arts Festival, was another attempt at bringing traditional Kun opera to modern theatre. The theatrical work will show in Shanghai next month as part of Hong Kong's programme for the expo. As well as being a modernist presentation, it is an attempt to connect a 450-year-old Chinese script with contemporary audiences.

Born in Shanghai in 1943, Yung moved to Hong Kong when he was five. Peking Opera performances filled much of his childhood. Whenever there were family banquets and funerals, there was Peking opera.

'At that time, I didn't understand what they were doing. The only impression was the shows were bright and noisy,' he said.

At 17, he left for the US, where he studied dance, mathematics, computer science, architecture and urban planning. He started to see Peking Opera from a new perspective after seeing countless Western performances.

'Cross-culture experiences inspire a deeper understanding of one's own culture,' he said.

While Yung is best known for experimental theatre, he also draws comics. His Tian Tian Xiang Shang series, about a boy who keeps asking questions, was exhibited in Shanghai two years ago and in Beijing recently.

Believing Hong Kong has a leading role to play in cultural exchanges within China, Yung masterminds cultural exchange programmes. But not everyone likes his work, with 'boring', 'don't know what he is talking about' and 'pretentious' being common comments about it.

Flee By Night is an act from the play The Legend of the Precious Sword written by mid-Ming dynasty playwright Li Kaixian. It tells the story of Lin Chong, one of the 108 famous heroes from the classic Chinese novel Water Margin. Lin, an honourable and loyal instructor of the Imperial Guards, was persecuted by malicious court officials and forced to join the outlaws of Liangshan. Li Kaixian, meanwhile, was himself purged by the court and wrote The Legend of the Precious Sword while in exile. Flee By Night is set on the evening when Li decides to flee and join the outcasts.

For Yung, the most intriguing element of Flee By Night is the general's decision to leave one system, the legitimate one, for another, outlawed, one. It will be shown at Shanghai's Theatre Academy from October 16 to 18.

Yung wants to know which one comes first, the story of Lin Chong or Flee By Night? Who created Lin? Was it the playwright or is Lin a collective idea and projection of society? Why did the playwright write a story about a rebel? Was it politically incorrect to write such a story, to create such a character?

Yung said the 400-year-old story still has resonance in today's society, whether among ordinary people facing day-to-day choices, or political dissidents voicing their beliefs despite the imminent threat of jail.

Three actors, one from Yung's experimental theatre company and two from the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Kun Opera Theatre, perform Flee by Night on a dark stage with only a table and two chairs. With no dialogue, the performance relies on the actors' facial expressions and body movements and occasional Kun-style opera singing and gestures. Issues raised by the play about traditional opera and society are projected on a multimedia screen at the back of the stage.

The issues Yung wants his audience to think about are also relevant to his actors. Acclaimed mainland actor Ke Jun and his student Yang Yang had a struggle to decide whether they should leave Kun for jobs offering more money. Yang's struggle, which came as he was preparing for Flee By Night, nearly derailed the performance.

'I'm not dealing with the inheritance of traditional Chinese opera. I am handling the problems concerning inheritance,' Yung said.

A major problem Yung has encountered in years of experimenting with traditional Chinese opera is the absence of discussion between teachers and students in artistic training. Students are constantly reminded they should wholeheartedly embrace tradition. 'Now in traditional Chinese opera, whether it is Kun or Peking Opera, it is taught in the form of remembering and practising tradition. The master talks and the students learn by heart,' he said.

He cites an example from Flee By Night in which, as the cast sing about the sun setting in the west, the actor points his finger to the sky and then at the ground. 'I asked Ke Jun how it could have happened because the general was fleeing in the middle of the night. How could there be a sunset?' Yung recalls. 'Ke Jun said he had asked his teacher the same question. The answer was that 'this was what my teacher told me so you have to keep going'.'

Even when such inconsistencies are encountered, they cannot be addressed because the relationship between teacher and student does not allow discussion.