If you are interested in traditional Chinese music, Liu Qingyao is a name you can't miss. She is good at creating original works presenting Chinese culture. Her music video works have been hugely successful online, with more than one hundred million views. The Vibe met up with her to learn about her creative philosophy.

Since 2016, the short video sector in China has developed rapidly, and Liu seized the opportunities in this field to create audio-visual works of Chinese music. From combing Chinese instruments with pop music to producing her original works, Liu has gradually established her style – creating original music songs about Chinese culture featuring traditional instruments, acted out by traditional costume performers.

"My dream has always been to combine Chinese music with drama," Liu said. It sparked off two series called "Chinese people's musical instrument" – promoting less popular instruments – and the "God of War," a symphony concerto centered around the pipa that includes the renowned "Song of Prince of Lanling Entering the Battlefield."

The song portrayed the last moment of a mysterious and legendary Chinese general Gao Changgong in the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), who died from poisonous wine given by a suspicious emperor. In the music video, Liu collaborated with musician Wang Jia'nan to use the pipa and drums to create a majestic and intense atmosphere. "We've tried a lot of techniques when we record it, so you can feel the sounds of drums in all directions as if you were on the battlefield," Liu said.

She was quite surprised that an instrument music work could stand out. "It had more than a million views within two days on Bilibili, one of China's most popular online video platforms, and now has more than 17 million views. Across multiple social media platforms, it has more than 100 million viewings." Furthermore, the result confirmed her passion and success in telling Chinese stories in her music works in a form of drama.

"The music should be exquisite and well-grounded, and so should the images if it's part of a video," she said. To refine her series of Dunhuang, Liu had been there many times. In her video, people could find that instruments, costumes and the movements of performers were similar to those painted on the wall of Dunhuang's Mogao Grotto.

"As for video editing, video creation and photography, I was quite an amateur at first," she said she edited the videos all by herself, "we need complex skills to deal with challenges and competitions."

User-generated social media has developed in many areas, in some, the higher the traffic, the better. "But I think in music, brand value is more important than traffic," Liu said.

Liu has developed an interest in traditional Chinese culture since she was a child, especially in Chinese literature and drama.

She was influenced by her parents' love of traditional Chinese culture and began playing the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese instrument, at a young age. She also joined some relatively high-level Chinese children's art troupes.

During her student days, she visited over 40 countries and regions to perform, and therefore has accumulated a lot of experience in cross-cultural exchanges of traditional Chinese culture.

Once when Liu was performing at the University of Cambridge, she noticed an elderly lady burst into tears after hearing the song "A Lovesick Knitted Brow in Vain" in the suite of "Dream of the Red Chamber". After the chat, Liu was surprised that the lady hadn't read the masterpiece but was simply touched by the melody.

"This experience makes me feel that Chinese musical instruments and Chinese folk music can really inspire a feeling of empathy," she said.

To promote Chinese stories, culture and Chinese music to reach a wider audience in the world, she has been working on two new plans. One is to turn many famous classic Chinese paintings, as well as intangible craftsmanship, into musical stories. The other is to work with top vision company Vita, to construct an experience museum about Louis Cha.

"I think Chinese music is a kind of Tao, or philosophy. It is a worldview which transcends skills and emotions. An excellent Chinese musical work should include the characteristics of Chinese history, sociology and Chinese people, as well as the environment in which they live," she said.

Standing between tradition and modern times, Liu has become one of the representatives of the new generation of Chinese style music players.