Sa Dingding and UK music producer and composer Marius de Vries. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Eight years later, De Vries returned to Beijing and was part of Sa's new projects in her new role as music director of the new CU Music, a Beijing-based joint venture of China and UK.

"I like working with creative minds. I look forward to have interesting music to make and connections to build in China," says De Vries.

"My job," says Sa, "will be discovering new talents and helping them to achieve in this career. As a singer-songwriter myself, I have lots of ideas for music. But some ideas cannot be realized by me. With this new role, I will fulfill these ideas through other singers."

She says the music company also covers the territories of movies and TV shows, which will be both challenging and exciting.