Teng Junjie, Gong Tianpeng and Ma Xiaohui Discuss Cultural Going Global: From Peking Opera Films to AI "Horse Racing"

How can Chinese culture go global and also "go in"? The 25th session of "Shadow, Sea, Book Fragrance"—"Wind of the Sea: A Theme-Sharing Session on Teng Junjie's Collected Works on International Communication of Chinese Culture"—was held on October 24 at the Shanghai Pudong Library. At the invitation of Han Jing, founder of the "Shadow, Sea, Book Fragrance" series and chief director of the CCTV documentaries "Super Equipment" and "Imperial Examinations," director Teng Junjie, composer Gong Tianpeng, and erhu performer Ma Xiaohui engaged in a dialogue with readers. The event began with a new book more than thirty years in the making, "Wind of the Sea," opening up story after story related to Peking opera, film, symphony, erhu, AI, and more, and leaving vivid reflections on the international communication of Chinese culture today. From "Farewell My Concubine" to "Peking Opera Fantasy" On January 28, 2015, the 3D panoramic-sound Peking opera film "Farewell My Concubine" won the Golden Lumière Award for Best Musical Feature, the first time a Chinese film had received this international prize known as the "Oscar of 3D film." Two years later, Teng Junjie, together with Shang Changrong and Shi Yihong, traveled to New York, performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and screened the Peking opera film at a cinema near Times Square, setting off a wave of Chinese Peking opera in the United States. Han Jing could not help thinking of the enormous sensation caused nearly a century earlier when Mei Lanfang led a Chinese Peking opera troupe to perform in the United States—and "Farewell My Concubine" was one of his representative works. "This Peking opera film and Mei Lanfang's stage presentation back then seem to meet across time and space, forming a wondrous closed loop." Photo from the event, by Zhong Han Teng Junjie recalled that shooting a Peking opera film in 3D/panoramic sound initially caused a stir in the American industry. "Hollywood learned that we in Shanghai were making this film, sent people specially to Chedun to watch us shoot, and also invited us to hold the U.S. premiere, covering US$90,000 in costs." Teng Junjie said: "After the performance in the U.S., I sat quietly on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum, looking into the distance, and thought of how Mr. Mei Lanfang had paved the way for Chinese Peking opera in the United States back then. The attention we were able to receive was inseparable from the foundation he laid. We are merely carrying on the tradition, letting Chinese culture continuously form beautiful ripples in the world." A 3D Peking opera film gave rise to a symphony. On January 29, 2019, two Chinese dragons were hung above the audience seats at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia for the first time, as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra jointly gave the world premiere of Gong Tianpeng's Tenth Symphony, "Peking Opera Fantasy." Dozens of American musicians sat interspersed with Chinese musicians, each within the other, together weaving exquisite and harmonious notes. That year marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic relations; that orchestra was precisely the one from Nixon's ice-breaking visit to China, which carried profound meaning. At the end, the brass section and the massive pipe organ resounded together, stirring the heart, and the entire audience stood and applauded for a long time. However, Han Jing noticed that Gong Tianpeng actually asked this world-top orchestra not to play a certain passage in tune. "If it's played in tune, it loses that flavor." Photo from the event, by Zhong Han The purpose of such a "strange" move was to better carry out cross-cultural communication. "Much ethnic music, including opera accompaniment, does not follow Western standards of absolute pitch," Gong Tianpeng recalled. Teng Junjie had set him the topic of "writing a symphony without using Peking opera instruments," and in that melody he imitated Xiao He of Zhou Xinfang's Qi school; to that end he listened to many old records, seeking exactly that sense of era and Peking opera flavor. This "flavor" was hard to explain clearly to a group of top American musicians, so he asked the Westerners not to use vibrato; when everyone played together, it would produce a slight out-of-tuneness, but it came closer to the texture he wanted. "When planning the commemorative event, I thought of Mei Lanfang's trip to the United States in 1929 to promote Peking opera, and decided to continue making the most of Peking opera, using Western symphony to create a Chinese original symphonic work," Teng Junjie introduced. To bring about the cooperation with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he specially invited its president to New York to see "Farewell My Concubine," and the other party agreed on the spot. On the day of the U.S. premiere, Peking opera artist Shang Changrong also came to the scene and, in his speech, excitedly delivered a few lines of English tinged with a "painted-face" feel, drawing rounds of applause. After returning, Gong Tianpeng published an article in the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles titled "Sending 'Cao Cao' a Thousand Miles to Philadelphia"; "Cao Cao and Yang Xiu" was one of the main subjects of this symphony. He remembered that during the trial performance in Shanghai, Shang Changrong was deeply immersed in the role and, upon hearing the passage where Cao Cao kills his beloved concubine to secure the realm, burst into tears and could not help shouting, "Qianniang!" Later, in revision, he strengthened this passage, using the massive pipe organ to play the "Qianniang" melody together, comparable to the overwhelming force of a Hollywood blockbuster. "A symphony cannot write all of Peking opera into it; it must write the dramatic elements common to human nature. The climax is deafening—it is the Chinese people's outpouring and lament for their own five-thousand-year civilization." Cultural communication has a long way to go "Wind of the Sea" is divided into three major sections—"Wind Reaches Far," "Journey Across Sea and Sky," and "Journey of Discourse"—collecting the true experiences and reflections of Teng Junjie and his team as they traveled to the United Nations, the stages of European and American cultural centers, international film festivals, and other overseas platforms to spread outstanding Chinese culture. "I originally worried that such subject matter would be dry, but I was captivated at once—it is full of vivid details," Han Jing said. Two stories left a deep impression on her. One was Teng Junjie's account of the 1997 Spring Festival, when they were filming a program on a beach in Los Angeles celebrating the Spring Festival with Chinese people around the world, only to be questioned by American police; the two officers actually asked, "Where is China?" This made him sigh with emotion: China has a 5,000-year history and a long culture, but at that time its international communication was still weak; as a film and television professional, he had a responsibility to spread Chinese culture as much as possible in a quietly nourishing way. On-site photo by Zhong Han. Many of the cultural exchange stories recorded in The Wind of the Sea were witnessed and experienced firsthand by erhu player Ma Xiaohui. "Reading the book is also a review of my own artistic journey." Ang Lee's film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was scored by Tan Dun, with Yo-Yo Ma on cello and Ma Xiaohui on erhu; the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. She went on to launch the global "Erhu Shakes Hands with the World" tour, traveling to nearly 100 countries over more than 20 years and giving over 1,000 solo concerts. Vienna's Golden Hall, the Hamburg concert hall, the Acropolis of Athens, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts... her erhu has resounded on world-class stages. Ma Xiaohui said, "The two strings of the erhu connect heaven and earth, and also connect West and East." Horse Racing is one of Ma Xiaohui's signature pieces; at the event, an AI version of the Horse Racing music video directed by Teng Junjie was shown. In the footage, she walks across high mountains and snowy plains and rides a horse while playing the erhu. "This has always been my dream, and now, with the help of AI technology, it has finally come true." The project began production in January this year, and the latest version was completed just two days ago; the hope is to use music therapy to help children with autism. Teng Junjie explained that the team filmed Ma Xiaohui's live-action portions in a studio and generated the rest with AI, greatly reducing costs compared with filming everything live. "Artificial intelligence has a powerful enabling role, and emerging technologies must be embraced, but the director's creativity comes first; you need to keep correcting AI's problems and learn to master it, and only then will it serve us more." On-site photo by Zhong Han. Affected by the typhoon, it was rainy and overcast all day, but the venue was still packed and everyone interacted enthusiastically, which moved the guests. Han Jing revealed that this was the last "Film Sea, Book Fragrance" event of 2026. On the 28th of this month, she will lead a production crew aboard the Xuelong to join China's 43rd Antarctic expedition and film the third season of Super Equipment. "When spring flowers bloom next year, we will meet again." Group photo at the event. According to Han Jing, the "Film Sea, Book Fragrance" art appreciation and reading promotion event was founded in 2024 and has been held for 25 consecutive sessions. These have included behind-the-scenes legends of world-famous productions such as Notre-Dame de Paris and Planet Earth, sharing by the creative teams of popular films such as Blades of the Guardians and Her Story, and the fascinating stories behind stage adaptations of famous novels and paintings such as The Brothers Karamazov and Along the River During the Qingming Festival, and have been widely welcomed. The event is guided by the Shanghai Film Association and the Shanghai Television Artists Association, and jointly organized by the Shanghai Pudong Library and Shanghai Vision Film and Television Co., Ltd.