BEIJING, Oct. 16 -- As the music of Romeo and Juliet echoed throughout the ice rink, China's figure skating pairs Pang Qing and Tong Jian acted out their own moving love story on the ice below.

China's Pang Qing (L) and Tong Jian compete during the pairs figure skating event at the sixth Asian Winter Games in Changchun, northeastern China's Jilin Province, February 3, 2007.(Photo: China Daily/Agencies)

    With their newly choreographed free-skating routine, Pang and Tong, the 2006 world champion pair, are expecting a glorious new season.

    "We want to show something new to the spectators this time," said Tong of their new free skating routine, which was choreographed in the U.S. "Although we still use the same routine for the short program as we did last season, we changed some of the details to meet the needs of the new rules."

    According to Tong, they have added some new linking footwork to some of the transitions of their new free skating routine, raising the overall difficulty level considerably.

    "We need to almost turn around in every transition. Even I thought it would be impossible during the choreographing period," said Tong. "But our choreographer told us that we are capable enough to do it, and now we know that we can."

    Through their passionate performances and exquisite interpretation of the music, Pang and Tong physically narrate the classic tragedy to the audience. Although the music has been used in many figure skating routines, they expect to give it their own flavor.

    "We don't want to finish the routine by just completing the technical elements. We want to tell a real story," said Tong. "We want to feel the characters with our hearts and display the routine with our own characteristics."

    Since they teamed up in 1993, Pang and Tong have always been considered the No. 2 pairs skaters in China, always in the shadow of multiple world champions and two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.