Tuning up a tradition

Chinese music reaches out to new audiences with innovative ways to help listeners identify with the stories behind it, Chen Jie discovers.

Before the musical show Rediscover Chinese Music was staged at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in December, director Wang Chaoge was proud that every day, eight theater productions directed by her were running at China's most popular travel destinations.

On the US tour, she met an American audience member who told her that he used to think it ridiculous that Chinese spent a big sum touring a show that might be nonsense to the Western audience. But this show, he said, was an unexpected experience that touched his heart.