Shao rong biography

Shao Rong and her first album Orchid. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

Acclaimed Chinese pi pa (a four-stringed plucked musical instrument) performer Shao Rong has brought the traditional Chinese instrument to Japan, where she has created a new form of music.

"The thick strings thrummed like fast rain, the fine strings tinkled like murmurs.

When the plucking mingled, it sounded like beads of all shapes falling onto a jade plate," said Bai Juyi, Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), of the sound of the pi pa in his poem Pi Pa Xing (Song of a Pi Pa Player).

As a traditional Chinese musical instrument, pi pa expresses a whole range of emotions in music.

Some songs are strong with fast and thrilling beats, for example, Shi Mian Mai Fu (十面埋伏), a traditional Chinese song featuring Xiang Yu, a famous warlord from the late Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), being cornered in his last battle; while others are poetic and slow, say, Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye (春江花月夜), a gentle song