Of moon and mountain

Members of the Shanghai-based choir are mostly in their 20s. Wearing sunglasses is one of their signature styles onstage.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The song not only impressed the audiences in Shanghai but also became an online sensation after the choir uploaded the show on Sina Weibo. In a week, the video was viewed more than 25,000 times and nearly 300 people applied to join the choir. Jin himself received many invitations for concerts in different parts of the country.

People also commented that the song presented a lighter side of the otherwise serious chorus singing."The song was prepared as a dessert for the concert. It was for fun. We didn't expect all the attention," says Jin, 29, who will bring the chorus to Peking University in March.

"What matters to us is that the song introduces people to chorus singing and makes them fall in love with it."

Jin has written more than 100 songs for the chorus and he attributes his melodies to Wenzhou, his hometown, in East China's Zhejiang province. One of his works, Zeya Anthology, is inspired by the Zeya mountain there, while another song, Bamboo Forest, is performed in the Wenzhou dialect.

Jin's parents, who ran a small family business in the past, now live in the mountainous area after his father was diagnosed with cancer.

"I can find a balance between my life in Shanghai, a metropolis, and my life in Wenzhou, a quiet place. My songs are like pictures that I see of the moon, mountain and river," he says.