Sci-fi inspired singer praises her roots

Additionally, a true native to Yunnan province, Zhu regards her home, a place which is well-known for its rich natural resources and manifold ethnic cultures, as a seedbed for her creations.

Apart from combining traditional music of different ethnic groups with her pieces, she has also been drawing inspiration from biodiversity.

By examining the branching pattern of those ferns that are ubiquitous in her hometown Pu'er, Zhu got ideas for designing a stage costume.

After she got to know the herbaceous plant rheum nobile that grows from stout, woody, rhizomatous rootstock and blossoms just once in its lifetime, she was touched and wrote a song for the plant in which she tries to observe the world from the "eyes" of the plant.

In vlogs she's filmed to record her hikes in the mountain forest, she can quickly identify different plants.

"For me, hometown is a kind of philosophy," she says. "I've learned from this land about the relationship between human and nature and it helps me to develop my perception of the surroundings."