Colin Mackerras and his Beiwai students in Beijing.

Back in the 1960s when his peers were rabid with Beatlemania, the maverick Colin Mackerras was tuning in to Peking Opera.

As a child he was passionate about Western opera so when he got interested in China he transferred that interest. As he explained, until very recently the dominant part of Chinese drama historically was musical and the regional opera was considered "the music of the people". For him Peking Opera became a natural entrance point into China.

"I bought a lot of gramophone (Peking Opera) records then, which I still have incidentally. I collected books about it I'm a great admirer of Mei Lanfeng," he says.

But it wasn't so simple. Back then while on a scholarship offered by the Australian Liberal Menzies Government, China was still eyed suspiciously from a "cold war" perspective. He recounted that one of the popular political election images of those days was of red arrows flying down from China, bound for Australian shores.

Mackerras and his son, Stephen. Photos courtesy of Colin Mackerra.

Fortunately, at his mother's encouragement, who felt China was going to be integral to both Australia's and the world's future development, he took the plunge and his life began to change. Before long he was studying for his master's at Cambridge University, completing his thesis on the Uygur minority during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).