Zhang Weiwei, an accordion player. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"My friend talked with the band after the show and learned that they had a bar on the same street.'Come!' they said and that how I became a fan of their music," says Martane.

"I had never listened to such music before. They had found freedom in their passion and their hard work."

Separately, Martane also listened to Chinese songs, such as songs by rock musician Xu Wei, to learn Chinese.

Speaking about Martane, singer-songwriter Zhang Weiwei says: "We were about the same age, poor and far away from home. So, we soon became friends."

Martane called the series of photographs, Them, from the moment she started the project in 2002.

"Now we all have kids and our own lives. But when we meet, the emotion of our shared youth is still and always will be alive," she says.

Martane later went on to work as press photographer for several French and foreign publications like Liberation, Le Monde, Telerama, Elle and Marie Claire.

And in 2004 she started to work for Time magazine, which led to her first book Chinese Portraits, published in both French and English and distributed worldwide, in which she documented Chinese society and people from all walks of life.

In 2009, she married actor Liu Ye and in 2010 and 2014, she gave birth to her son and daughter, respectively.

Now, she works as movie producer and in theater.

"In France, it is rare to hear Chinese songs. So, I want to promote those songs. But I plan to translate them into French first," says Martane.