Lin Hwai-min was born into a good family. When he was five years old, he saw a movie about ballet and fell in love withdancing. When he was a teenager, he decided to study dancing. His family did not consider dancing a good job and thought he hadmade a big mistake. They came close to talking him out of it, but no cigar. The young man had made up his mind. He wanted todance the Taiwanese way.6In 1974, Lin founded the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, the first dance company of its kind. Training for the dancers isdiverse. In addition to modern dance and ballet, they take turns learning tai chi, Chinese opera movements, and even martial arts.The dancers have to therefore constantly learn new skills, and brush up on ones they have not practiced in a long time. People of7all ages enjoy the performances, which are a mix of Eastern and Western elements of culture. To hit the record, Cloud Gate oncedrew audiences of up to 60,000 people in one performance.After 30 years, Lin no longer has to see about everything as he did before. In time, Lin has become a symbol of beauty and art.When most young dancers bump into Lin, they cannot help having butterflies in their stomachs. Indeed, Lin is always serious andstrict to his students when it is concerned with the matter of dancing. Privately, however, Lin could be a caring and inspiringmentor towards his students or anyone interested in dancing. That’s why Cloud Gate has generated numerous talented andwell-known dancers like Hseu Fang-yi, a young Taiwanese dancer, who has recently performed at Lincoln Center in New Yorkand won a great deal of praise.In 2003, in recognition of Cloud Gate’s work, Taipei City Government declared August 21 as “Cloud Gate Day” and namedthe lane in front of its office “Cloud Gate Lane.” In the end, Lin did make his family proud of him.