When Pop Music Meets Peking Opera

Peking opera--Peking opera(simplified Chinese: 京剧; traditional Chinese: 京劇),a synthesis of music, dance, art and acrobatics, is known as China's national opera and widely regarded as the highest expression of the Chinese culture. It is the most refined form of opera and one of the three main theatrical systems in the world. Although it is called Peking Opera, its origins are not in Beijing but in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Hubei. It then absorbed repertoire, music, arias and performing techniques from other operas and musical arts in China and became the most influential and representative of all operas in China. Almost every province of China has more than one Peking Opera troupe. Beijing and Tianjin are respected as the key base cities in the north while Shanghai is the base in the south.

The singer used a piece of famous Peking opera play , which I am very familiar with. My grandmother taught me how to sing this piece when I was a little kid. The music simply reminds me of happy days back to 1990's when I was living with my grandma.


Personally I like this song. I made it as my polyphonic ring tone for my mobile phone last time when I was in China. Everyone who calls me will hear the verse of the song and won't get bored when wait for me to pick up the phone. You can trace more elements of Peking opera in this song, the lyric is very impressive as well.


The costumes in Peking opera are graceful, magnificent, elegant and brilliant, most of which are made in handicraft embroidery. As the traditional Chinese pattern are adopted, the costumes are of a high aesthetic value. The types of facial make-ups in Peking opera are rich and various, depicting different characters and remarkable images, therefore they are highly appreciated. Moreover there are numerous fixed editions of facial make-up.


This is the latest trend in Chinese pop music composition and lyrics writing. People insert elements of Chinese traditional music to make the pop songs sound delicate and tasteful. More and more audience realize the beauty of Chinese traditional music nowadays and begin to accept the Chinese style pop songs.The pure Chinese traditional music might be too serious and profound but it becomes approachable when it appears in the pop music. People at my age or younger are no longer only interested to western rock&roll, rap or popular music,we feel quite proud of our own traditional music as well. Though there are some criticisms from formal music conservatories or music reviewers,who think some Chinese style pop music is quite nondescript(which I agree to some extent), the positive sides are pretty clear as well. As far as I'm concerned, I don't really category each music genre clearly. I love different kind of music style and new musical concept as long as it's beautiful and impressive. That's the beauty of melody, isn't it?

When Pop Music Meets Chinese Traditional Instrument--Part Two

First of All,Happy Chinese Spring Festival!This is the 5th year I spend my spring festival in Amsterdam, I'm pretty homesick right now. In Shanghai, we usually stay up late and set off fireworks on New Year's Eve. By the first day of first lunar month, people are wearing festival dresses and begin to visit or welcome family, friends and loved ones.Anyway,I hope I don't have boring projects next year and then I can be with family to celebrate this amazing festival. Well,I'll continue the part two of the topic.

Guzheng--The guzheng, (Chinese: 古箏) or zheng (箏) (古 means ancient) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments.The instrument is rich in playing techniques. The performer plucks the strings with his right-hand fingernails (either real or simulated), while his left-hand fingers apply pressure to the strings to execute vibratos, glissando, other embellishments and occasional plucking techniques. Sounding melodious and elegant, it is as important solo instrument now, and often in accompaniments as well.


Zheng is also used in pop music composition.Here is a good example and you can see the singer is playing Chinese ancient zheng in this music video.


Xiao--The xiao (traditional Chinese: 簫; simplified Chinese: 箫) is a Chinese end-blown flute.Dizi is the transverse flute while xiao is vertical one. It is used to play classical Chinese music and solo music.


Sheng--The Chinese sheng (Chinese: 笙) is a mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting essentially of vertical pipes, in the Chinese orchestra.It was traditionally used in court music, and there are many depictions of the ancient sheng on the wall paintings of the Dunhuang caves from the 7th and 8th Centuries. It was during this period that the sheng traveled to many of the courts of Asia and according to some references, possibly even Persia in the 10th century. It is documented that it didn't reach Europe until middle of the 18th century, and its influence was so strong that it resulted in the invention of the reed organ, concertina, harmonica and accordion.

This beautiful song is about Yueya Quan(月牙泉), also known as Crescent Moon Lake which is located in the Gobi Desert, Dun Huang. The song combined Sheng, banjo and India Sitar to portrait the dreamlike picture of the scenery in northwestern China.


Suona--The suona (Chinese:唢呐); also called laba (Chinese: 喇叭) is a Han Chinese oboe. Owing to its large volume and strident, penetrating tine quality, the suona is most appropriate for the ardent and lively style. The instrument is commonly used in the accompaniment to local theaters or singing and dancing, in combination with sheng mouth organs, gongs, drums, and sometimes other instruments. Such wind and percussion ensembles are called chuida(吹打）.

When Pop Music Meets Chinese Traditional Instrument--Part One

During the 1.5 years of working freelance for tons of Chinese music projects in the Netherlands, I accumulate increased interest in Chinese traditional music. It can be traced back 7,000 - 8,000 years based on the discovery of a bone flute made in the Neolithic Age. Approximately 3000 years ago, European music was experiencing its first rustlings of life whereas a complete musical theory and sophisticated musical instruments began to appear in China, owing largely to the orthodox ritual music advocated by Confucius.

In China, music instruments are classified according to the material, not according to the generated sound or the construction method like in the West. Traditionally, there exist eight different types of instruments: They are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay gourd and hide. There are also other instruments which may not fit these classifications. During Han Dynasty, the theory of the Five Elements (wuxing 五行) and correlation of beings and appearances was very popular. The correlation also includes music instruments. Bamboo flutes are used when the spring begine, summer is the time of string instruments (silk), bronze bells are the instruments of the autumn, and in wintertime, drums are sounding.

Melody and tone are prominent expressive features of Chinese music, and great emphasis is given to the proper articulation and inflection of each musical tone. Today, the music continues a rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while emerging into a more contemporary form at the same time. I'll focus on the pop music here and show how amazing the mixture is when the pop music meets Chinese traditional instruments.

Pipa--The pipa (琵琶) is a plucked Chinese string instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body. It has been played for nearly two thousand years in China, and belongs to the plucked category of instruments. Pipa was loved by everyone--from the royal court to the common folk--and it occupied the predominant place in the orchestra.

The song used Pipa as its backgroud accompaniment,the sound of the instrument is extremely beautiful.


Erhu--The erhu (二胡),sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras.

In this music video, together with pipa, erhu expresses the exquisite feeling of the song and creates the sad atmosphere which perfectly match the lyrics.


Dizi--Also called Chinese flute, was made from bone over 7,000 years ago. In the times since then, most flutes were made of bamboo.The dizi is a major Chinese musical instrument, and is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera, and the modern Chinese orchestra. Traditionally, the dizi has also been popular among the Chinese common people, and it is simple to make and easy to carry.


Yangqin--Yangqin(扬琴） is a Chinese hammered dulcimer with a near-squared soundboard. The instrument is very similar to Santur, played with two bamboo sticks. The original was confined to the southeastern coastal province of Guangdong late in the Ming dynasty. It spread later throughout the inner areas.

The yangqin, bright and harmonious in tone, is often used for solos and in ensembles or in the accompaniment of local operas, narratives and other vocal singings.The vivid sound of Yangqin is played through the whole song.And you can also capture the sound of Guzheng, which I am going to introduce next.

My World of Warcraft --Part Three

One year later, Kill Loot Repeat was disbanded. I felt frustrated and attempted to quit the game. One of our paladins asked me to stay and suggested to migrate to another server. In order to move on and start new WoW life, I did my last migration to PRC, where some old DAWN members stay. I was slowly becoming a casual player, with fewer friends, a little bit lonely.


I was getting busier and busier since 2008. I always have tons of projects to deal with. But anyway, I bought 2nd extended edition--Wrath of the Lich King. I wanted to see whether I was still that into the game. After one week I lost my focus. I guess it's time for me to stop.


And now I'm no longer a game otaku girl. I get my social life back completely and enjoy it pretty much. Without computer games, I have more time to think about any other things --my life, career, future plans. People might think I was so wasted in the past four years but I gonna say it was wonderful as well. We met some of guild members in real life and became good friends. We had sort of reunion party in Germany twice every year and it was so much fun. The game also teaches me to cherish the time I'm having now cause I wasted too much of them before. The memories it gave are certainly something I couldn't forget, and I'll always treasure it :)

My World of Warcraft --Part Two

In 2007, the extended edition of World of Warcraft , the Burning Crusade was released. After migrating several times, the scale of DAWN was getting smaller and some people left with or without reasons. But we were still good, got some server first down as usual.


As a hunter, it's ironic that I didn't know how to kite well. I occasionally jumped into mobs when I was kiting and died with embarrassment. After TBC, our guild was in great need of shadow priest. Thinking about getting rid of hunter class and wearing something pretty, I spent another few days to level up a young blood elf priest.


Sad things happen. DAWN was disbanded because of the leave of the guild master. I was quite depressing and didn't know where to go. An old friend from East Dragon, the biggest Chinese guild on European server, invited us to play with him. As a priest class leader, he is skilled and always patient to teach me a lot. The annoying thing was I still couldn't find fun, which I got from the previous guild. The good thing is I still farmed my reputation happily and got the 3rd Netherdrake on my server. (without using bugs!!!)


One day, our main tank from DAWN asked me to go to his server and do some hardcore raids. After having sort of online interview I migrated again the other night...The new guild Kill Loot Repeat was a great one. I actually found the similar feelings I got from the old DAWN. Members are very friendly and enthusiastic. The most important thing was that they are pros. That fact made me feel upset and I started to learn to be a pro, or look like a pro. Several weeks later, I made some improvement. I got decent key-bindings, macro and tried my best not to be a clicker. Check this pro interface


Kill Loot Repeat is a really good guild. I've never experienced that kind of fast and efficient raids. And our raid leader normally talked a lot on ventrilo, which warmed up the atmosphere while we were raiding. Reliquary of Souls in Black Temple used to be my nightmare. But my fear had gone when I started to focus on dispelling in the first phase. I just amused myself by having this little competition with other healers.


Basically I'm not a trouble-maker. But I also made some stupid little mistakes to wipe the whole raid. I need to say I was always focused, most of the time. After killing bosses, I liked to dress up and run around to show how festival I felt.


We formed 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 arena team but my rating was kind of terrible. We went for 3 healers plus 2 dpser as our combo, but it went not very good because I lacked good consciousnesses and enough actual combat skills while we were fighting against the opposite teams. I tried really hard to improve but I still got frustrated by failures. And after being provoked by one of team member's certain act, I decided to quit.


My 2v2 team went better. But we met some issues as well. When we played 2v2 team, I fighted a lot with my boyfriend in real life. We blamed each other when we lost to another team. Then I realized that I went too far in this game.

My World of Warcraft --Part One

Back to the early days of my study period in the Netherlands, I was kind of an Otaku girl. Otaku (おたく/オタク, Otaku) is a Japanese modern slang used to refer to a fan of any particular theme, topic, or hobby. According to the wikipedia, it could refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga and video games. While these are the most common uses, the word can be applied to anything such as music otaku, cosplay otaku, cooking otaku, etc. In Chinese, we called otaku person "宅男"(otaku boy) and "宅女" (otaku girl), which sounds sort of embarrassing. Well, what I addicted to was the game -- the World of Warcraft.

It might sound pretty weird to most of my friends in China cause they all know I never play computer games. I actually mocked those who played games would never find the beauty of social life. After starting my brand-new independent study life in Amsterdam, I got more and more bored day by day. Most of the shops are closed before six in the afternoon, no more amazing Karaoke bar for me. The pubs and bars are nice but most of them are just not the style I like. My energy was kind of drained out at that time. I missed my family, friends and great great life style in Shanghai. That's the moment WoW stole into my life.

My boyfriend tried really hard to convince me to adventure Azeroth with him. He showed me how a fat orc run and dance, how an undead priest cast magic to heal on test server. He found the official website to let me know how playful this game is. Then at the first day the game CD was released in Europe, I got my own in-game character.

I feel it's pretty cool to be a warrior and always fight at the battlefront. In order to have the best combination, my boyfriend became a priest, who could heal me and made the fight easier. Little by little I knew some terms for computer games. But it didn't change the truth that I was way too far to become a pro. This picture shows that in the beginning of this game, not everyone realized how to play. I'm really surprised we actually killed the final boss with this gimp team in the end-- one warrior without shield, one priest without holy talent and three warlocks. That was really fun.


After couple of days, we were tired of PVE server so we built new characters on a PVP server. This time we chose to be troll hunters. And the real turning point was we got recruited by one of best guild on that server--DAWN. I made new friends there and knew more about the game. After I hitted level 40, I finally got my mount, a green raptor. :)


There were lots of activities every day in this big guild. What I can't forgot are the raids. We formed 40-people raids almost every day and people were so punctual to wait for the invite. And by the way, I was the first troll to get that cool undead mount on my server.


I was playing WoW with my laptop, which had a 128MB memory card. The funniest part was I did not even realize that. My game lagged a lot and I couldn't move if there were so many players in the same area. One time we went to raid Kazzak, I could barely move one step. When it finally stopped lagging, this was the miserable scene I saw.


My boyfriend and I were very active. We took part in every raid in the evening from 7 to 12. We didn't even have time to cook decent meals. Normally we just had some noodles or ordered pizza. We turned down lots of dinner invitation and social activities. After these hard-working days, I became the best hunter with top gears on the server.


One time our scout found that the respawns of emerald dragons were bugged. Everyone was so excited and we were busy running among Hinterlands, duskwood, Feralas and Ashenvale to kill these four bosses and got the epic loots. Warlocks were busy with summoning, priests were busy with healing, druids were busy with battle rez, and I was busy shooting behind everyone. We didn't stop raiding until every one got enough natural-res gears for Huhuran and that was already 8 in the morning. That was really crazy but it also became one of the funnies thing I will miss.


I was also very enthuestic about farming reputation. In order to get that Defender of the Timbermaw trinket, my boyfriend and I have stayed in Winterspring for many days to farm reputation of Timbermaw Hold. The final part of the whole process is Thrall's speech. It was kind of unexpected. I am really happy I just captured the moment of he said "Qin--a true hero of the horde!" :D

Shoe Mania

Last time one of my friends threw me a question. He asked " If a girl has 15 pairs of shoes, don't you think she has already got enough"? Obviously he was whining about his girlfriend who bought the sixteenth pair of shoes and he really wanted my support to stop being puzzled.Unfortunately, he got the wrong person.

In my opinion, it's never extravagant for women to have fabulous shoes. Most of time, I wear jeans and T-shirts, together with my sneakers, running around with my cameras. I play paintball with boys and I always win. I collect models instead of dolls. I guess that is my personal image for lots of my friends. But in secret, I've got shoe mania.

I started this lovely hobby several years ago when I could afford a little luxury stuff. And now I just can't help introducing some of my recent new favorites here:

Among all the brands, I love Salvatore Ferragamo most. Not only their shoes are fabulous and classy, but also they are incredibly comfortable to wear. I fell in love with this pair of burgundy patent leather shoes at the first sight I saw it. The simplest design makes it even more elegant than the ones which has icon butterfly on the toe cap.


I always dream of having something elegant and exquisite, something black. And this one absolutely fulfill my requirement. The velour leather is very low-key and classy. I can even imagine I still wear the shoes when I become an old lady.

Orange is vibrant. It denotes energy, warmth, and the sun. It has a bit less intensity or aggression than red, calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow. Recently orange becomes my new favorite color. It goes perfect with jeans, also gives me great feeling of being full of energy.

Gold is not my primary choice. I always think gold is snazzy and kind of tacky. But when I saw this pair, I just can't help owning it. I love it goes so pretty with denim. It is certainly not going to be my last pair of gold shoes I bet.


Last but not the least, my favorite in autumn! I'm crazy about its fantastic stitching job. It also dazzles me with its incredibly comfortable 8cm high heels and stunning color.


I have more to show but my self-controlling is asking me to stop. Actually I've spent the whole afternoon on shooting these shoes and enjoying the satisfaction they bring to me. For those who do not understand why your loved one kind of addicts to buying pretty shoes, just one advice: It is sometimes necessary to indulge a shoe lover. Maybe I didn't really make my point clearly, but I bet you got it, right ? :>

どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう ?

I'm listening to this song again and again these days. It simply takes my breath away. The melody is just so moving and the lyric makes me feel heart broken somehow.

どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう?

どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう
どんなに时が流れても君はずっと ここにいると思ってたのに
でも君が选んだのは违う道

为什么会喜欢上了你
以为不管时间如何的流逝，你一直都在这里
但是你选择了不同的道路

どうして君に何も伝えられなかったんだろう
毎日毎晩募ってく思い あふれ出す言叶 わかってたのに
もう届かない

为什么什么都没对说你
每天白天黑夜积累的思念 溢出的话语 明明知道的
但是已经传达不到了

はじめて出会ったその日から
 君を知っていた気がしたんだ
あまりに自然に溶け込んでしまった二人
どこに行く乗りも一绪で君がいることが当然で
仆らは二人で大人になってきた
でも君が选んだのは违う道

初次相遇的那天起 就感觉似曾相识
非常自然就相溶的两人
不管去哪儿都一起，有你在是绝对的
我们两人成长为大人
但是你却选择的不同的道路

どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう
どんなに时が流れても君はずっと ここにいると思ってたのに
もう帰れない

为什么会喜欢上了你
以为不管时间如何的流逝，你一直都在这里
已经回不去了

特别な意味を持つ今日を 幸せ颜で立つ今日を
きれいな姿で神様に愿ってる君を
仆じゃない人の隣で 祝福されてる姿を
仆はどうやって见送ればいいのだろう

有特殊意义的今天 展开幸福笑脸的今天
以美丽的身姿向神请求的你
在不是我的人的身旁，被祝福的样子
我该怎么去送别才好

どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう
あの顷の仆らのこと もう戻れない（考えた考えた）
どうして君の手をつかみ夺えなかったんだろう
どんなに时が流れても君はずっと
仆の横にいるはずだった（そのままに）

为什么会喜欢上了你
那个时候的我们 已经再也回不去了（思绪万千）
为什么不能再次牵着你的手
不管时间如何的流逝你仍一直
在我的前面（一直就这样）

それでも君が仆のそば离れていても
永远に君が幸せでいることを ただ愿ってる
たとえそれがどんなに寂しくても（寂しくても）

即使这样 即使你还没离开我的身边
希望你能永远的幸福
即使那是多么的孤寂（即使孤寂）

Why is this kind of painful love happening everyday in every corner of the world? It kind of makes me feel weepy. How miserable is it to miss someone you really care? ......

How many times we suffered from this emotional affliction? How many times we just ignored all the inner fire burning, pretended to be innocent and cool with everything ? How many times we restrained ourselves and acted like a unmerciful person? How many times we said goodbye with smile and cried at heart? How many times we finally said that pointless three words after all the things have changed?

Forgotten is for the better remembrance.

Soul Searching

Every time I built a new blog site, I dealt with it honestly at the very beginning. I tried not to hide myself and let my friends know the real me.

And every time I failed.

The more attentions I got the less sense of secure I had. Especially when friends started to judge, I began to be afraid of showing my real thoughts. I attempted to give a typical and lovable portrait of myself --a well-behaved girl with good personality. That is what everyone wants to see. So I kept writing things, which are beautifully decorated by unnecessary rhetoric. I was addicted to peoples' envy and praise about my life, experience and ways of thinking.

From time to time I feel so sad about myself. I just know I will get lost sooner or later.

In fact I'm not good at expressing my feelings. I don't have that much of confidence at all. I'm not brave like you think, I feel nervous as well when I travel alone. I'm not versatile I don't even know how to play piano,

etc, etc...

If you could take all of those, just be by my side.