Birth of a Genre

iQIYI's mascot, the smart robot Xiao Qi, rolled onto the stage and broadcast in its robotic voice,"[Please, would the 101 public judges share their impressions after listening?]"

The judge known as Smokestyle was the first to hit the speak button. Once chosen, he asked, "Teacher Chu Zhi, did you use pipa, guzheng, and hulusi in the arrangement?"

"That's right," Chu Zhi nodded.

It wasn't really a question. Smokestyle already knew the answer. He went on, "The arrangement blends violin, cello, guitar, guzheng, hulusi, and pipa—six instruments in total. Especially the combination of guitar and string instruments... I'd call it unbeatable."

"If it were just about expertly incorporating traditional instruments, I wouldn't be this surprised. But everyone here knows that the foundation of our traditional five-tone scale is gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu."

He paused briefly. Without a host to steer the conversation, there was always a risk of awkward pauses. But Smokestyle had been on enough shows to bridge the silence himself.

"Chrysanthemum Terrace is based on the Chinese F-gong mode [FGACDF], in 4/4 time, with no altered notes. That means it centers on G-shang, A-jue, C-zhi, D-yu. Fa and si are considered secondary tones in our tradition. In modern Chinese pop, songs that completely omit fa and si are almost nonexistent. Out of a hundred songs, you'd be lucky to find even one composed entirely in a traditional five-tone scale. What shocked me is how Chu Zhi not only did this, but made it catchy and emotionally resonant. That's... astonishing."

The 300 audience members finally understood. They had sensed that the song had a classical feel but didn't know why. Smokestyle's explanation revealed that it was due to both the scale and the instrumental arrangement.

"Ah Jiu has always been a genius at songwriting."

"I don't really get what the judge is saying, but it sounds awesome."

"Now this is what a real song sounds like!"

Before he finished speaking, another two judges couldn't wait any longer. They pressed the button at the same time—Vegas and another judge named WizardFirst. Without a host to mediate, they stumbled into each other on the mic.

Sensing the awkwardness, WizardFirst spoke first.

"Teacher Vegas, would you mind if I went ahead and shared first?"

"Please, go ahead," Vegas said with grace. Gentle scholars rarely beat thick-skinned speakers in a rush.

WizardFirst was an indie artist who released his albums online. He had written several widely circulated gufeng (ancient-style) songs, but ironically, it was the singers covering his work who became famous, not him.

"The prelude was a variation of the chorus melody. I absolutely love that structure. It reminded me of walking through a museum, gazing at a scroll painting, with the intro acting as a guide and the chorus marked by traditional clapper beats."

"The percussion wasn't jazz drums or standard kits, but bangzi—an instrument rarely used in pop music. Yet here, it fit perfectly. That's all I can say."

"As someone who grew up in Jiangsu-Zhejiang, I learned hulusi in elementary school. I always thought of it as a folk instrument, nothing more. But the way it was used in the outro totally changed my perception. I never knew hulusi could fit so well in pop."

"I looked into it—lyrics, melody, and arrangement were all by Teacher Chu himself. Out of all the episodes of this show, Chrysanthemum Terrace is the arrangement that shocked me the most. I learned so much from it."

Normally, judges shared general impressions, not critiques, and kept their tone modest. But WizardFirst's barrage of praise clearly showed how much he loved the piece.

Hulusi was one of the most commonly taught ethnic instruments in schools, especially in elementary or middle grades. It was easy to learn and low-cost. But it wasn't until WizardFirst mentioned it that the audience realized—the outro really was a hulusi solo.

"Wait a second... hulusi, pipa, bangzi, guzheng? That's four traditional instruments, and it didn't sound tacky at all?"

"Whoever said traditional instruments are outdated just doesn't know how to use them. This song is proof they still hold charm. I'm definitely listening to Chrysanthemum Terrace on loop after this."

"And it's not like he used only traditional instruments. The opening was strings—cello and violin. Now that I think about it... Chu Zhi is insane."

The audience murmured in agreement. The commentary section was dragging on, but that was only because so many judges were desperate to speak.

Finally, the third judge had to be Vegas. He cleared his throat. "The two judges before me already covered the melody and arrangement. I'd like to focus on the lyrics. I won't rehash the rhyming, which everyone's noticed. Let's talk about the wordplay instead."

"For example, 'Sorrow cannot cross the river, autumn hearts split in two.' The word for sorrow is made up of 'autumn' and 'heart.' Or how 'The long night freezes into frost' echoes with 'Left alone in the lake's reflection.' These are internal callbacks between verses."

"What does that show us? That for Chu Zhi, rhyming is just the baseline. He does it effortlessly."

"And why did he write this song with both traditional lyrics and composition?"

At last, the judges were asking the real question. Chu Zhi let out a quiet breath of relief. He had been ready to awkwardly steer the conversation there himself if no one asked.

"I once said, 'The Huaxia Wave is the most powerful and the most brilliant.' I've always believed that what is national is also international. That's why I wrote this song—it's an experiment."

"Our country has a rich musical tradition. Chinese-style symphonic works were once celebrated across Asia. So rather than saying I specifically wrote Chrysanthemum Terrace, I'd say I hoped to create a more popular kind of Chinese-style music that would speak to our people."

"Ancient poems, classical literature, traditional melodies—we have so much material to draw from." Chu Zhi continued, "New vocal styles, new arrangements, new concepts. I admit my ambitions are big. I hope I can help Chinese-style music flourish globally."

He wrapped up. "My concept of 'Three Classics and Three Moderns' is still a personal vision for now. But I will give everything I have to bring it to life."

He said it calmly, with no dramatics. But the ambition was enormous.

In the hall, not a sound was heard.

The 101 public judges and 300 audience members were all gripped by the same wild thought:

He's founding a new school of music.

In every field of art, it takes countless contributors to build a genre. But the one who founds a movement—the one who introduces it to the world—is remembered as the pioneer.

The web novel The Great Literary Master Reborn wasn't the first to write about plagiarizing famous works, but it made the "plagiarist genre" a thing.

Legend of the Cultivation Journey may not have been the first xianxia novel, but its system of Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Division, and Tribulation became the standard for the entire genre.

Buddha is the Way? That was the first true prehistoric mythology novel—and it both created and popularized the "flood myth" genre. No one can argue that.

What Chu Zhi was doing now, was exactly what Dream into God Machine had done for the flood myth genre.

By directly proposing the concept of "New Zhongguo Feng," and backing it up with works like East Wind Breaks, Blue and White Porcelain, Cold Fireworks, and more to come…

Chu Zhi was carving his name into music history.

Father of New Chinese Style—this title was his now. Not even Jesus or Guanyin could take it from him.

Clap clap clap—

Another wave of thunderous applause erupted from the hall. People had heard of encore performances, but this was the first time anyone had witnessed an encore round of applause.