As the first Chinese researcher working on Iranian music, Zhao Zhuchan says she decided to study Iranian music to deal with a lack of understanding of the music among Chinese musicians.
“I decided to help Chinese musicians get familiar with Iranian music. To [get a deep understanding], I didn’t limit my studies to the European and American resources,” she was quoted as saying in an interview with IRNA.
Zhuchan said most of the literature on Iranian music have been created by researchers from other countries, adding that she has fell in love with the wonderful world of Iranian music.
“I’ve conducted extensive research on the Iranian music and realized that Iranian musicians have full command over their works,” she noted.
Elsewhere, the Chinese researcher said she began to know Iran through Beijing Book Fair, in which Iranian publishers attended as special guests.
“In this fair, I got to know Lian music group. The type of music and their songs appealed to me and I decided to travel to Iran to get a deeper understanding of Iranian music,” he said.
She underlined that during her latest visit to Iran last year, she got in touch with the Iranian people and their music.
“During my stay in Iran, I found Iranians very kind, hospitable and peace-lover. I also saw Iran a secure country, [unlike] the western media who has been seeking to tarnish its image in the world,” she said.
Zhuchan recalled one of her memories during her visit to the southern city of Bushehr, saying that “the warm welcome I received from the ordinary people in Bushehr as well as my observations from across the country has convinced me to miss no opportunity to promote Iran in the world and invite all culture-lovers in the world to visit Iran closely and get more familiar with the hospitality of the Iranian nation.”
Zhuchan’s findings on Iran’s music and other cultural aspects have been published in an academic journal in China. This is the first academic research on Iranian music published in a prestigious journal.