China, in pictures and music.
Instrumental Chinese music, written for the films: No voices, no narration.
Free to listen here.
14 tracks · 2 h 1 m · free to listen
Season One: The Art of Chinese Tea
The score of the season now running. Each object carries its own theme, and each theme is written after the film is cut.
Tea, Part One
Tea, Part Two
The Silk Road — Season One
Twelve episodes, twelve themes, written and recorded in 2025. The films are on YouTube; the music is here.
Zhang Qian
The Jade Gate
Caravan
Chang'an
Mogao Caves
Silk
The Road of Faith
Paper & Powder
Music only · its film is in production
Railways to the West
Music only · its film is in production
Ports of the Sea
Music only · its film is in production
Keepers of the Caves
Music only · its film is in production
The Road That Never Ended
Music only · its film is in production
Long pieces
Sixty-minute instrumental works, for reading, working or sleeping — one theme carried the whole way through, with no cuts. They are published on our separate music channel and will play from this page as they arrive.
How the music is made
Every track is instrumental: no singing and no words, in any language. The music is AI-assisted and then chosen, trimmed and placed by hand, so that each cue sits where the picture needs it. The films themselves are produced the same way.
The tracks are free to listen to on this page and under the films on YouTube. Still images on this page are frames from the films; their credits are on the image credits page.
Take the music with you
All fourteen pieces are free to listen to on this page. If you would like to keep them, leave your email and the whole season opens – 320 kbps files, one track at a time or all of it in a single download, with the liner notes. No charge.
Prefer to start with the objects? The free twelve-page booklet The Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look covers one plant and six teas, the five steps of the making, the gaiwan and the Yixing pot, and ten Chinese words from the film.