Tan Dun, the Chinese musician who won an Oscar for his score in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will stage a concert on Zen at the foot of Shaolin Temple, in central China's Henan Province. 

Tan Dun told a press conference held in Henan Tuesday that the concert will be set at the foot of Shaolin Temple, which is right in the heart of the Songshan Mountain, which is listed among the world's heritage by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO). The concert will use instruments made of water, light, wind and stones.

Stones of billions of years' history on Songshan Mountain will be used as percussion instruments, and spring water will be processed as a gong and string instruments with the help of a hi-tech device, Tan said.

A total of 500 sound machines will be scattered in a performing place covering 20,000 square meters, thus creating a stereo sound system in nature.

A thousand monks will recite a Zen chapter, perform with stone instruments, and display Shaolin kungfu, which will give the audience striking visions and audio impressions. Tan noted that the performance, together with other follow-up construction, is expected to be an educational base for Chinese Zen culture.

Shi Yongxin, the abbot monk of Shaolin Temple expressed his great pleasure with the upcoming concert performance. He expected that the performance could save the declining Zen music, which lacks successors.

At present, the Shaolin Temple has around 60 players aged from 16 to 20 who can play Zen music. Shi hopes the concert performance, branded with the fame of Tan Dun, can bring more Zen musical earners to Shaolin Temple. The concert is scheduled to debut in October next year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2005)