Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao | Full Documentary - YouTube

Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao | Full Documentary - YouTube

Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao | Full Documentary

57,104 views  Jan 23, 2026

Music, especially the music of Bach, made it possible for Zhu Xiao-Mei to cope with the worst challenges of her existence. The pianist experienced all of the consequences of the Mao regime and the Cultural Revolution: years of indoctrination and "reeducation," five years confined to a labor camp, a shattered family, hardships, and harassment. In 1980, she emigrated and ultimately made Paris her new home.

This film tells the story of her return to China as an internationally acclaimed interpreter of Bach’s music, 35 years after leaving her country. The decision to return to China was not easy for her. The wounds of the Cultural Revolution, in which Mao laid waste to the country, were too deep. Because her family was considered to be "bourgeois" and counterrevolutionary, she became the victim of public denunciations, experienced how musical scores were burned, and saw how her teachers were humiliated and driven to suicide.

▷ 07:06 Cultural Revolution 

▷ 10:34 Back in China 

▷ 21:29 Meeting with the pianist Yin Chengzong 

▷ 25:29 Close to Nature

▷ 31:48 Sichuan Conservatory of Music

▷ 38:10 Visiting the First Piano 

▷ 41:32 Concert at the Beijing Conservatory of Music

▷ 53:16 At Bach’s Grave

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50 years after the Cultural Revolution, to sold-out halls, the celebrated pianist finds her tour in a transformed China. The music school is no longer a "haven of the counter revolution" and mastering an instrument is no longer an expression of western bourgeoisie. On the contrary, owning a piano is a status symbol that all strive for. And yet, the dark chapter of the Cultural Revolution still remains unresolved. Fighting against suppression and oblivion, Zhu Xiao-Mei constantly raises this sore point that Chinese society still suffers from today.

A film by Paul Smaczny

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Transcript

When I am in Paris, people often come up to me after a concert and ask:

“How are you able to play Bach so that we can understand it?

How are you able to understand Bach and western music?”

Then I say to them: “I believe that art and culture, in their purest form, are the same all throughout the world

they have no geographical borders; they are the spiritual property of all mankind.”

Hello? Hello there. Hello, Kexin. How are you? Aren’t you tired?

No, I’m not tired. Not tired – haha! You are incredible. It wasn’t easy but you were right.

You pressured me for three years, and in the end I came. Did you see that the Chinese public has changed greatly?

No, not at all… and all of the young people! Even Jinan was sold out.

I wouldn’t have believed that in my wildest dreams. I also didn’t expect that.

Although I was pretty confident I didn’t expect it would be this successful. No, nobody could have foreseen this. It was a pure twist of fate.

Some things really just need time to work out on their own.

Nobody in China will be afraid of Bach anymore. That’s why it was so important. But thank you so much!

We’ll keep in touch. Okay. Go get some rest. Get some sleep. Bye.

Next to Bach, Schubert is one of my most favorite composers.

That started very early. I remember how I loved his “Winterreise” in secondary school.

Simply this first verse: “As a stranger I arrived, as a stranger I depart.”

It moved me back then, even though I didn’t understand it yet.

I didn’t expect it would happen to me 20 years later.

Even today I’m not sure if I’m Chinese or a foreigner. It’s a very strange feeling.

I lived in China for 29 years and now I’ve lived abroad for 36 years.

Thank you. Are you Zhu Xiao-Mei?

How do you know? - Because I read your biography. - No! And you came to Dijon. I live in Dijon.

That can’t be! There you go – and I admire you. Oh, that touches me greatly.

Thank you! See you soon. We are practically neighbors.

- See you soon. - Thank you. Goodbye.

I hardly had any access to culture as a child. There were no books to read.

no music to listen to no art – nothing.

There was no school, no education. Artists, writers, musicians

didn’t have the freedom to express themselves, to write, to develop their talent.

The Cultural Revolution destroyed the entire culture. One cannot imagine it:

In China’s bookstores, there was not one single book to buy, not even dictionaries.

Artists were chased into ‘cowsheds’. This is the first mistake of this terrible tragedy.

Moreover, the youth was brutally manipulated.

They were mislead and made into fools by politics

and they had no access to literature and art.

Because there was no culture during my youth, I joined the masses

and engaged myself in class-struggle and revolution. I wanted to devote my life to Mao Zedong.

I even turned away from my father and mother.

I despised them and was ashamed of them.

Chinese culture and society was almost completely destroyed. The destruction is irreversible for generations to come.

For me, it’s a terrible tragedy.

And I experienced it personally.

I thought that Chinese audiences would still need time to accept Bach.

But he kept on insisting on doing it. So I said to myself, I’ll try it.

If I had waited longer, I would have been too old. So I decided to go back.

When I returned back to Shanghai after 35 years. I felt like a foreigner.

I was born in Shanghai, like my mother. But I don’t recognize it anymore.

The place where I was born is no longer there. The old houses and cottages, the courtyards – they are all gone.

China is now so modernized. Standing in front of these office towers and skyscrapers,

I feel insignificant, lost and overwhelmed.

This tour to China consists of eight solo concerts in seven cities.

It took me three years to persuade her. When she finally agreed to perform in China, I was overjoyed.

But she was hesitant up to the end, wondering if she really sould play.

The Symphony Hall in Shanghai has a large auditorium. We could have easily filled it twice.

But she didn’t want that.

My agent Zhang Kexin wanted me to play in the large auditorium.

But the Goldberg Variations are ill-suited for it.

It is very intimate music; it isn’t brilliant.

The auditorium has to fit to the music.

Kexin called me and said the people had been standing in line all night

to be the first to get tickets at the box office early in the morning.

Yes, I remember it was raining that day. Everything was sold out in two hours.

I tried to convince Zhu Xiao-Mei to give a second concert.

There was such a huge demand. She finally agreed. And this concert was sold out within ten minutes.

Tickets were being sold on the black market for 800 Euros.

Zhu was speechless when she heard that.

The audience was so enthusiastic and so moved by the music.

But that wasn’t because of me but because by the greatness of the music.

It totally dispelled my belief that Chinese audiences weren’t ready for Bach.

I completely banished the thought.

There are so many interpretations and versions of this wonderful work.

I think I’m more the emotional type.

I can only take to the stage

what I feel in the music and share it with the audience.

We have a bit of time to talk, if you wish.

I have played this piece for so long, it’s simply a part of my life.

Ich möchte das gerne mit Ihnen teilen. And I would like to share that with you.

I recently saw your interview.

In the interview you said you learned a lot from Lao Tzu And Chuang Tzu

and you would read them daily. Does ancient Chinese philosophy help you play piano?

What role does it play?

This is a very good question although I cannot explain it easily. I cannot say that I simply applied the teachings of Lao-Tzu

to the Goldberg Variations. Our Chinese ancerstors like Lao-Tzu

were great philosophers. They taught us one how to live

and how to pursue knowledge. They taught me to be patient

and how to approach this piece of music.

During the rehearsal in Shanghai Kexin came in and said: “Yin Chengzong would like to see you.”

I was extremely surprised because Yin is one of China’s most important pianists.

He had adapted the model operas into a piano concerto

and in turn saved the piano during the Cultural Revolution. Because no one was allowed to play the piano.

Of course, he was also exploited by the Gang of Four and he had to serve them.

That we are still able to play after everything that went through… How true! It’s been a huge stroke of luck.

Thank goodness that I am still able to play.

But it was a lot more difficult for you… The older generation is gone;

artists like Gu Shengying – they all passed away. Weren’t you in the United States for several years?

- How is Tao Zongsheng? - Very well – she is still playing. I was first in America for eight years and then I moved to France.

I have been living in France for 25 years.

- Yes, everyone left around this time. - Yes, how true. I was happy to see him; he is so humble.

We followed two different paths, but it’s a miracle that we could both give concerts.

He really rendered a great service to music. We shouldn’t forget his contribution.

Each person’s character is different. Many couldn’t bear the absurdity of the Cultural Revolution.

They felt it was better to take their own life.

Others believed that things would change,

that fate would change things. And so they held on.

Gu Shengying is another pianist who I admired very much.

She won second prize in Geneva In 1957.

Together with Pollini. She was the first Chinese musician to win an international prize.

During the Cultural Revolution she couldn’t take the humiliation, the insults and the abuse anymore.

At 29, she committed suicide.

She is my idol. The way she plays music is my ideal, so natural and simple -

so passionate but never melodramatic.

Her elegance, her noble temperament – one rarely finds such pianists today.

I have always lived in big cities, Shanghai, Beijing and Paris

But I have always been drawn to nature, to rivers, mountains, and majestic peaks.

They give me peace and strength within.

That’s why I enjoy working in Névache.

Before each concert or recording I retreat to the mountains to meditate and work.

Sorry to interrupt you – The beginning is good, but one detail:

It is better when the power comes from here below.

Don’t just control it through the fingers. It’s not easy. Try the beginning again.

Try it again. More slowly.

The more slowly you press the keys The better it sounds.

Go as slowly as you can.

The treble line!

I often joke with western journalists and say: “Actually, Bach is a Buddhist; you just don’t know that.”

But I really think that there is some truth in my words.

If I compare Bach with Lao-Tzu Then I find that both resemble each other.

Because, through the greatness of their art and thinking, they are very similar.

Bach’s name means “brook” and Lao-Tzu’s claimed that a person should live like water;

he should enrich the lives of other people but never struggle against the flow.

Playing Bach has become a daily ritual for me

like meditating or eating breakfast. It’s simply a habit.

And if I don’t do it I become nervous and disoriented.

For this tour I wanted to play at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

I’ve always liked Sichuan and its people.

The Sichuan Conservatory of Music is China’s largest conservatory.

There are more than 17,000 students there.

Feel how the sound still reverberates. Don’t break it off.

This part is very interesting.

A master class is something that I really don’t like doing.

The pupils are very nervous and then they are supposed to play in front of several hundred people.

And then you have to tell them what they did wrong until they no longer know what is right or wrong

and are completely unnerved.

You are rushing here. Just keep calm. Relax.

I get the feeling that you Want to get through this too quickly.

I believe that Bach’s music is very important for young people.

Its sense of balance, its elegance – there is nothing melodramatic about it.

Bach approach to emotional expression

is like an ancient Chinese ideal.

It is a kind of emotional control that is not reckless or unbridled.

A person who plays Bach well has built a very good foundation.

When I returned back to China, I was impressed by all of the young people.

Most of those who attended were between 20 and 25 years old. It’s very unlike Europe where the average age is around 60.

The young people in China are so open-minded. I think they are the hope for China’s future.

Please line up! This is Bach, after all!

When this tour is over I need to rest for a while.

If you need some rest, listen to your recording of the Goldberg Variations. Seriously, whenever I hear it I feel calm within.

It should be sold at pharmacies!

My mother would have died of happiness if she had seen this performance.

My parents are no longer alive But my four sisters are still there.

And the most important member of the family: the piano.

It even followed me to the labor camp and later back to Beijing.

It is the patriarch of our family. We need to repair it!

But someone told us it wouldn’t be the same anymore.

We have to replace the felt pads. Yes, precisely.

When my mother was young, My grandfather didn’t let her play the piano.

So she invested all of her hopes and dreams in me. I was to realize her dream of playing the piano.

She invested all of her energy and did everything she could. In Beijing, during the Cultural Revolution.

She was afraid people would say: “She is playing the large western drum.”

Every evening, even during the winter, she would wrap herself in a blanket, and would stand guard outside to make sure nobody would hear me playing.

When I tried playing on the piano I heard my mother playing Schumann’s “Träumerei” for me as a child;

I broke into tears. Right to the very end of her life she encouraged me

to follow my own path.

I grew up in this conservatory of music. I spent more time here than at home.

I studied from when I was 10 until I was 30.

I had the happiest years of my life here.

I could study here together with my teachers and classmates. But I also had the most excruciating years of my life here,

with public denunciations and accusations. And often, they were extremely cruel.

When I was twelve I was publicly denounced here in front of 400 people, the entire conservatory.

I will never forget that my entire life. During the Cultural Revolution there was a stage here, I remember.

Hearings were held here. Yes, yes - right here.

Returning back to the conservatory, My classmate Zuoyin was excited.

But I felt anxious. It wasn’t just a place to study,

A place for academic discussion and a place to listen to concerts. It was also the location for the Cultural Revolution –

for agitation and indoctrination and for denunciations. The bittersweet memories all came back; an emotional roller coaster.

Nothing has changed here. - It looks just like back then. - Yes, that’s true.

Do you still remember… everything that happened here? During the Cultural Revolution, all concerts

as well as public denunciations and punishments were held here. It’s hard to believe…

I would raise my hands until they hurt, shouting: “Long live Chairman Mao! Long live Chairman Mao!“

There are scenes from the Cultural Revolution that I can’t get out of my mind.

Society should never forget the importance of culture, music and education.

They are the most important criteria for an intact and harmonious society.

But how does one ensure that such tragedies of the past do not happen again? Sadly, there is no accountability for the past.

No one has the courage to confront this tragedy fully.

The period is left as a blank in the history of China.

The concert in Beijing was one of the toughest challenges for me.

I really wanted to play in this concert hall. It is where I last heard Gu Shengying play.

That has meant a lot to me.

Why is this chair in the way?

I am performing to let everyone know that our generation still exists.

It had to suffer greatly, not just physical suffering

but through the lack of culture. There was no music to listen to and even dictionaries had to be copied by hand!

I want to show everyone that my generation hasn’t just disappeared.

I want to honor my generation.

I am so happy that I could share this moment with you. The last time I heard a concert in this hall

it was a concert given by Gu Shengying. I still can remember it very clearly;

she played Chopin’s “Nocturne.”

Even after so many years I think we shouldn’t forget

how she opened up a path for us that she couldn’t complete.

I am continuing that path for her.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You played wonderfully!

You also came!

We haven seen each other for many years! Professor Zhou!

My teacher, Zhou Guangren, also came to the concert. She supported me greatly back then.

I was her graduate student in 1980

but I immediately decided to go to America. I feared she would be very disappointed.

I never thought she would still support me. However, she came up to me and said:

“Xiao-Mei, young people like you Should go out and see the world, it’s a good thing to do!”

I have never forgotten this.

I always dreamed of visiting Bach’s grave. And when that dream finally came true, I had a greater dream:

I wanted to play his masterpiece in front of his grave.

This dream was fulfilled.

I have no more wishes.

For my whole life I have felt like a puppy whose tail is between her legs.

To suddenly become a big star feels uncomfortable.

I am a pianist who lacks self-confidence. I have never been self-confident;

I have never been self-confident. That has to do with my upbringing

and with the Cultural Revolution that is deeply a part of me.

I never see myself in the lead role. I always play the role of a servant:

a servant to the music a servant to the composers, a servant to my students

This is my traditional Chinese upbringing.

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