World-renowned Chinese conductor Zheng Xiaoying returns to her hometown, Yongding district, in Longyan city. [Photo provided to gofujian.com]

The opening ceremony for Zheng Xiaoying's The Echoes of Hakka's Earth Buildings rural music classes was held on Dec 24 in Zhensheng Lou, her ancestral home, located in the Yongding district of Longyan city, in East China's Fujian province.

During the event, Zheng donated her rural music classes to her hometown, Yongding district, including recorded online courses, imparting over 60 years of teaching experience to future generations.

"I want to bring back what I have learned and some experiences to my hometown and impart them to our relatives, friends and future generations, in order to show them what the outside world is like," Zheng said.

"At the age of 96, Zheng specially returned to her hometown to set up rural music classrooms here. This is a great inspiration and motivation for music enthusiasts," said Zhang Dongmei, the inheritor of Hakka mountain songs in Yongding.

Music has been Zheng's lifelong career. She was the first female opera and symphony conductor in China and the first Chinese conductor to perform at an opera house overseas.

The symphonic poem The Echoes of Hakka's Earth Buildings is a magnificent epic that portrays Hakka people's struggle, survival, development and character.

Over the past 20 years, Zheng has taken it to 12 countries, performing in over 70 concerts and setting the record for the highest number of large-scale symphony performances in China.