The origin of the idea This China project is an initiative of Muzieklab Brabant. A number of discussions with Mona Tang, who works for the foundation ´Things will get better tomorrow,´ an interest group on behalf of Chinese people in the Netherlands, showed that the Netherlands harbor a number of good and professional Chinese performers who find it difficult to enter the Dutch music scene. And so the idea was put forward to organize an encounter between Dutch and Chinese musicians, which led to an unusual musical experiment. Crossovers between different musical styles and sounds from various continents is commonplace nowadays. However, little attention has been paid to crossovers between traditional Chinese music and Western music. This project aims to investigate the possibilities of linking these two totally different musical traditions: the Western jazz and improvisation tradition versus the Chinese ´conservatory´ tradition. For this particular project Tjitze Vogel sought out a number of Chinese musicians. Together they will explore the possibilities of such a combination.

"It is like a mixed marriage. Beautiful children are born from that " Interview dated August 25, 2003, with Zhimin Mona Tang, one of the initiators of the project. "A blank on the map" Interview dated August 20, 2003, with Tjitze Vogel, artistic director of the project This is a project of Muzieklab Brabant in coorporation withtMundial and Theater de Lieve Vrouw.