Hong Kong Arts Festival New Play Selection 2013 Xiao Hong (1911–1942) was a contemporary of Eileen Chang and perhaps the most celebrated Chinese woman writer of the 1930s. She lived her short life with love, with freedom, and the land and its people always in her heart. Based on her life story, Heart of Coral is a reflection on Xiao’s tumultuous life, from her early life in Harbin to her solitary death in Hong Kong, where she completed her most renowned novel, Tales of Hulan River. With librettist Yan Yu’s poetic verse, Helen Lai’s staging, and Chan Hing-yan’s original score, Heart of Coral, a lyrical testament to Xiao’s unfailing aspiration to love and liberty, is commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival.