On a chilly December morning in Beijing, Zhang Ting rose at 6 am and started to dress for her trip to the Summer Palace.
Young singer-songwriters in traditional dress take part in a three-day guo feng music workshop in Beijing. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
The stylish 28-year-old, a hip-hop singer-songwriter, sat in front of a mirror and tied her hair into a sleek ponytail.
Two hours later, Zhang, wearing hanfu－traditional Chinese apparel－arrived at the Summer Palace, an imperial garden established during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
She visited the venue to gain inspiration for a new song, for which she planned to mix elements of traditional Chinese culture with her own style of music, known as guo feng, or music with a Chinese flavor.
The total number of online plays for such music in the 12 months from June 2020 more than doubled from about 12 billion to 29 billion, according to Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the nation's leading online music and audio entertainment platform.
In the 12 months from June 2020, 51 Chinese pop songs in the guo feng style were played more than 100 million times.
Zhang joined a workshop launched by Tencent Musician, a Tencent Music platform aimed at supporting and cultivating original Chinese music and independent musicians from China. In addition to the Summer Palace, the workshop took participants to many historical sites in Beijing, including the Old Summer Palace and Xiangshan Mountain.
The three-day activity brought together singer-songwriters from around the country and targeted new songs featuring elements of guo feng, which is particularly popular with young Chinese music lovers.
Zhang, who lives in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, has many fans on social media, who know her by the stage name Ukeyz.
"I'd never dressed in hanfu before, and that morning at the Summer Palace, I felt as if I was traveling back to ancient China. I just followed my intuition to see where I would arrive at, musically, by the end of the day," she said.
When Zhang passed an old building in the palace grounds, she was told by a tour guide that it was the Great Stage of Dehe Garden, the largest ancient stage in China. Overwhelmed by the stunning architecture, Zhang couldn't help imagining scenes of artists from ancient China performing onstage.
Soon afterward, she wrote the song Hong Yu in memory of Liang Hongyu, a renowned heroine during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
Zhang said: "Many female warriors are portrayed in Chinese folk tales, which in turn are transformed into stage roles, especially in Peking Opera pieces. I have always loved these female roles, which can be just as good, if not better, than male ones. Images of these female roles came instantly to mind when I saw the ancient stage at the Summer Palace."
Hong Yu won applause from other musicians at the workshop, including one of the coaches, Billy Koh, a veteran producer and songwriter from Singapore. He worked with Zhang on the song, which will be released soon.
Ran Yi, Feng Sheng and Yi Si, musicians with the recording label Yi Ke Xiao Cong (One Green Onion), perform online. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Chinese reality shows have also highlighted guo feng music. For example, Zhongguo Chaoyin (In China), which premiered on the streaming platform Youku in November, has won a fan base with its creative display of traditional Chinese music for young people.
In the show, a diverse range of contemporary music genres, including hip-hop and rock 'n' roll, are combined with elements of traditional Chinese music.
Companies producing popular videos games and animations are also keen on integrating guo feng music into their products.
For instance, in July, when Honor of Kings, one of the best-selling video games by Tencent Games' TiMi Studios, introduced its new character, a female warrior named Yun Ying, veteran pipa player Zhao Cong was invited to perform new theme music for the character.
Zhao, the China National Traditional Orchestra's principal pipa player, wowed fans with her solid technique of playing the traditional instrument－a four-stringed lute with a history of more than 2,000 years.
Using different techniques, such as plucking the strings and sweeping the pick across them, Zhao vividly portrays Yun Ying, who is beautiful, brave and armed with a spear.
"One of the reasons young people are spending much more time listening to Chinese music is that we are proud of our culture and want to know more about it," said Zhao, who was born into a family of musicians in Jilin province and learned the pipa at a young age with her mother, who also plays the instrument.
"Traditional Chinese music truly reflects the country's typical characteristics, such as its people, dialects and customs, so it's a great way to learn about ourselves," Zhao added.
According to Tencent Music, more than 1 million videos with a guo feng theme have been streamed on the online platform Bilibili, attracting over 136 million views, while more than 100,000 videos related to guo feng have been played 2.6 billion times on the platform.
Li Liang, head of the Tencent Musician program, which boasts some 300,000 registered Chinese singer-songwriters sharing their music online, said: "Young people grow up with the internet and are open to different cultures. They are now embracing their own cultural aesthetics, which is meaningful."
Zeng Ting, 26, who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2020 with a master's in music technology, also joined the Beijing workshop. By the end of the event, she had completed a song titled A Moonlit Night in the Spring, which has lyrics in English.
Born and raised in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Zeng said: "Guo feng songs are usually in narrative form and conjure up images that are easy for listeners to understand. The melodies are also catchy."
Jay Chou is one of the pop stars who helped popularize guo feng. He released songs such as East Wind Breaks in 2003 and Chrysanthemum Terrace three years later, working with his lyricist Vincent Fang. The songs became chart-toppers at a time when the nation's music market was full of Western-style numbers. The lyrics for both songs conjure up visions of Chinese poetry, and the melodies flow smoothly.
In 2005, singer-songwriter David Tao released Susan Says, combining rhythm and blues with Peking Opera.
Ten years later, Wukong, written and performed by singer-songwriter Dai Quan, also became a hit with its mix of pop and Peking Opera. The song portrays the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, a legendary figure from the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, and features traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and bamboo flute.
Meanwhile, songwriter Zhou Mingcong, 26, is keen on creating "hybrid pop music", especially blending pop with music from traditional Chinese operas.
In 2016, when he was a student at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts with a major in composition, Zhou founded his own label, Yi Ke Xiao Cong (One Green Onion), with a group of like-minded young musicians. The label has since become popular among young Chinese music lovers.
Introduced to music by his mother, who is a professor in the subject, Zhou, who was born and raised in Dandong, Liaoning province, learned to play piano at a young age. He grew up listening to classical music and Western opera.
Zhou became interested in traditional Chinese opera, as the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts attracts top artists and experts in traditional Chinese theater. He has been introduced to different forms of Chinese opera, including Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera and Quju Opera.
"I gradually fell in love with those ancient sounds after watching performances of traditional Chinese operas," Zhou said. "People who may never have seen such operas will appreciate these old art forms, and I want to present them creatively through music."
Zhou's first song combining pop music with Peking Opera was released in 2017. Titled Kuang Lang Sheng, it depicts the loneliness and dream of a young man. It took Zhou about 10 minutes to write.
"The night I released the song, I turned off my phone and went to bed after sharing it on my social media accounts. I was very nervous about the feedback from my classmates and teachers," Zhou said.
When he woke, Zhou found that the song had become a hit. His classmates and teachers shared it on their social media accounts, giving him the confidence to write more compositions in a similar style.
Zhou's team comprises young musicians specializing in various styles. For example, Wang Houyi, 20, a singer and Quju Opera performer, has appeared in a China Central Television show and has gained a large fan base with his original song Antique.
"Chinese music and traditional Chinese operas have unique charm, which is like a cultural DNA in our blood. On hearing traditional Chinese music, we naturally understand it and feel connected," Zhou said.
