HAVING started playing the piano at the age of 4 and voice training at 11, Shin Moon-sub, a doctoral candidate at Shenzhen University, has always found a wellspring of joy in music.

Shin Moon-sub. Photos courtesy of the interviewee

Oppa Shin, a nickname his friends use meaning 'older brother' in Korean, once seriously thought about pursuing music as a career in junior high. He had won awards at piano competitions and was admitted into a prestigious chorus in Haeundae District, Busan. However, he set aside his musical aspirations for more practical choices after his family moved from Busan to Seoul.

The South Korean lad didn’t anticipate that destiny had a great surprise for him when he moved with his family to Shenzhen in 2010, where he would rekindle his deep-rooted passion for music and singing.

Then a sophomore student of bioengineering at Konkuk University in Seoul, Shin decided to go with his father, an expert contracted to work at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station in Shenzhen, and spend a year learning the Chinese language.

Shin Moon-sub (R) and members of the International Choir of Shenzhen University during a practice session. 

The planned gap year has turned into a lengthy love affair with the Chinese language and culture in this coastal city, as Shin, after more than a decade, is still pursuing his studies and passion for music here.

In 2014, Shin was part of the first batch of roughly 30 expats to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature from Shenzhen University’s College of International Exchange. He then went on to earn a master’s degree and pursue a doctorate in the comparative study of law systems in China and South Korea, encouraged by his tutor Huang Yaying and aided by scholarship from the university.

Discussing his efforts to establish the International Choir of Shenzhen University (SZUIC), Shin said his dream wouldn’t have come true had it not been for the support from his university.

Shin Moon-sub conducts the International Choir of Shenzhen University during a performance.

“In March 2016, a group of visiting Yale students performed a cappella singing in our campus hall,” Shin recalled. “I couldn’t get their beautiful voices out of my head and started itching for a chorus where I could practice with my schoolmates.” SZUIC officially launched in the fall semester of 2016 with help from the school.

Before the COVID pandemic, the chorus gave many performances on campus and at local festivals, singing covers of beloved English and Chinese pop songs like “You Raise Me Up” and “Ju Hua Tai” (“Chrysanthemum Flower Bed”).

Zhang Haomiao, Shin’s friend and member of SZUIC, rewrote the lyrics of “I Like” by the Rainbow Chamber Singers, turning it into "I Like Shenzhen University,” which became a big hit among the students.

Shin Moon-sub conducts the International Choir of Shenzhen University during a performance.

Because the chorus couldn’t do in-person performances during the pandemic, Shin tried to write original songs for the chorus in order to “avoid possible IP infringement and make a unique presence online.” Thus far, Shin has composed five original songs that include lyrics written by himself and other members of the chorus.

To compose a song, Shin would “play the tunes on the piano or hum the melodies line after line,” then revise them over and over again until “everything fell into place.”

During the pandemic, Shin also founded the StudyinChina Cloud Choir, with support from China’s Ministry of Education, after winning a short video competition organized by the ministry.

As he anticipates graduating from Shenzhen University this December, Shin said he will stay in Shenzhen. “My new year’s resolution is to graduate and then start a chorus of GBA-based expats.”

Ideally, the new chorus will have about 50 members and be more stable, as it will include not only overseas students, who may graduate and leave Shenzhen, but also other members.

“Singing in a chorus is a healing and decompressing experience. Besides, in this world of misunderstandings and conflicts, music can be a strength that bonds people together,” Shin said.

“Some of the former chorus members who have graduated from SZU still come back to visit me, which is heart-warming and inspires me to continue my music dream.”

来源：ShenzhenDaily