DVDs of song set of ancient Chinese poems published

BEIJING, May 16 -- A Beijing-based publishing house has published a song book setting of ancient Chinese poems by a contemporary Chinese musician for the first time in China, with elementary and high school students as its target.

The song set, together with its DVDs and VCDs, will be published worldwide, to meet the increasing demands of Chinese families at home and abroad as well as foreign nationals who want to study the Chinese culture and language, said Teng Jingyun, deputy president of the Educational Science Publishing House (ESPH), at a press conference Saturday.

There are 95 classic songs that are included in the Chinese-Language textbooks for domestic elementary and high schools, which will be helpful for school children to study and memorize the Chinese classics, according to the official.

All the songs were composed by 47-year-old Chinese musician YouZhu, a native of Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, and sung by a group of Chinese children.

Last year, the song set was broadcasted by the Chinese-Language channel of an educational TV network SCOLA in the United States. Beginning this March, the songs have been televised, one every week, by the Chinese Educational Television (CETV).

It took eight years for the composer to complete the song book. The dedicated young artist said he is now planning to compose and stage an opera of 'The Dream of the Red Chamber', one of the top classic novels in Chinese literature.