The ever-evolving composer

Chen deeply admires the French composer Claude Debussy for his ability to evoke both Western and Eastern musical sensibilities. He aspires to become a "tech-savvy Debussy", aiming to create a fusion of music that bridges Eastern and Western cultures, as well as traditional and modern technologies.

"Music serves as an international language, allowing us to tap into shared human emotions — sorrow, happiness, or a sense of achievement — regardless of our backgrounds," he said.

Chen's musical score for the Chinese historical fantasy television series, Love Between Fairy and Devil, has garnered significant praise from international viewers on Netflix.

"Even when composing for Chinese period dramas, I take a 'borderless' approach, which has undeniably resonated with audiences globally. I find this particularly intriguing," Chen said.

He believes that what is national can also be global and that music with Chinese characteristics does not necessarily have to rely heavily on traditional Chinese instruments.

For example, The Wandering Earth franchise features extensive use of Western symphonic music, but the themes of family and country it conveys are distinctly Chinese.

The music for the first installment was recorded with musicians from Sydney, Australia, while the sequel's score was performed by an orchestra from Vienna, Austria.

According to Chen, foreign musicians found this type of Chinese music both novel and relatable.

Making the film's original soundtrack more youthful is also important to Chen. He mentioned that for the ending credits of The Wandering Earth, he composed a piece called New Journey, which incorporates a lot of electronic music.

"Many viewers said they were glued to their seats in the cinema, unwilling to leave because they were captivated by this piece," he said.

Chen has observed that the new generation of young listeners is highly interactive and creative. "When they listen to music, it's as if they are searching for hidden codes," he said.

For instance, 550W/Moss, one of his compositions for The Wandering Earth, features a little girl singing in a pattern of long and short notes, giving Moss — the intelligent quantum computer in the film — a sense of heartbeat and breath. Some young listeners translated these sounds into Morse code and deciphered their meanings, adding to the film's sci-fi flavor.

Chen said he did not anticipate this while composing but was pleasantly surprised by the audience's interpretations.

As more Chinese films gain international audiences, a new generation of young musical talents is thriving. Chen welcomes this trend but cautions young musicians to focus on mastering the fundamentals of music.

"With the help of AI, the threshold for making music nowadays has been lowered. But to go far, you still need to build a solid foundation and deeply study and understand those, perhaps ancient and boring, theoretical aspects," he said.