CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- The melodious sounds of an erhu was heard in the room, where a boy in black with medium-length hair, was playing the erhu (a two-stringed bowed musical instrument), and immersed himself in the world of music with his eyes tightly closed. The boy is Zhou Zijun from Chongqing, who has recently been one of the most searched topics on Weibo because of his playing the erhu. Some netizens commented that there is an air of “loneliness and detachment” about him, some fall in love with the traditional Chinese musical instruments because of him, and some called him a “Severus Snape” who can play the erhu.

Playing the erhu for 18 years

The boy wants to produce good music

The 25-year-old Zhou Zijun has been playing the erhu for 18 years. When he was 7 years old, his parents sent him to a training school to learn to play the erhu. During the learning process, he grew quite fond of this instrument, and was then admitted to the Affiliated High School of China Conservatory of Music with his great passion for erhu.

As Zhou Zijun grew older, he developed his own understanding of erhu. “I don't want to practice erhu for a specific purpose. I'm going to engage in rock music that’s popular among young people!” Perhaps it is because of the hormones of puberty, Zhou Zijun dropped out of school in his senior year and began to learn electric guitar. After producing rock music in Beijing for a period of time, he decided to return to Chongqing when he was 20 years old.

In Chongqing, Zhou Zijun had been isolating himself in his room to study the techniques of electric guitar and pop music for three years, without any financial support.

“What are you doing on earth? Are you going to live off us for life?” Even his parents questioned Zhou Zijun and thought he was idling away his time. Zhou Zijun explained to his parents that he had been dedicated to producing music, but his father retorted, “stop it! You’d better make a living first.”

Give it up? Zhou Zijun did not. He continued to study pop music and at the same time, made a living by singing on short video platforms. As time goes by, more and more netizens followed him. When some netizens consulted him on singing skills, Zhou Zijun could not answer these questions, because he was not a professional.

“Erhu is my profession, and I may find a way to make more young people fall in love with erhu!” Since last year, Zhou Zijun began to play the erhu on social media platforms. With passion for comics and animation, he played the anime music with erhu. He wanted to make music that he like and could be understood by the general public.

Creative performance

A boy of traditional Chinese style got millions of likes with his Music Master

This February, Zhou Zijun became hugely popular online and received 1.52 million likes with his traditional Chinese-styled song Music Master. “I will not tell whose DNA has changed”, “come and wash your ears”, “I cried when I first heard it” ... He received more than 76,000 comments below his video clip.

Zhou Zijun’s music integrates the sounds of erhu with pop music. You can hear his erhu music of popular songs, anime music, theme songs of games, etc. These familiar songs played upon erhu provide audiences with a refreshing auditory experience.

What made Zhou Zijun most happy was that he could find a receptive audience for each of his songs. Zhou Zijun told the reporter that he felt very happy when hearing someone say, “you songs really impressed me”.

“It's really important to put your heart and soul into the music”, said Zhou Zijun. Whenever he chose a song, he studied the story behind the song carefully and thought of what touched him about this song. It can be a sentence or a melody. It was only when he was moved by the song that he could put his heart and soul into playing the song and offer audience the wonderful auditory experience.

Now if any netizen consults Zhou Zijun on questions related to erhu through private messages, he is able to answer the questions for them based on his professional knowledge. Zhou Zijun said, “it feels like I've helped others.”

Zhou Zijun’s music, featuring the collision of anime music and traditional Chinese style, pop songs and classics, and his unique way of playing the erhu, has attracted an increasing number of young people to know more about erhu and fall in love with it. In the future, he will continue to produce good music of traditional Chinese style music, and he hopes to study abroad if he gets a chance. (Translated by Cai Xinyu, Fathom Language Limited)