Playing hither and zither

When Peng Jingxuan began playing the guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither, on the streets of France in 2018, she did not expect the traditional instrument would change her life.

Peng, 28, has become a social media sensation for her online video performances in French cities. She has shared more than 200 original videos on You-Tube tagged under "@jingxuanGuzheng", with the most popular clip viewed over 16.61 million times.

The square outside the Grand Theatre in Bordeaux, France, is one of the places where Peng performs. The mesmerizing melodies from her zither always draw huge applause from listeners.

"I love how she's representing her culture in a setting where people are not familiar with it. You can tell she's proud of her background and her music!" one YouTube user under the moniker "mariaacosta8920" wrote commenting on Peng's video.

The guzheng is an ancient, major musical instrument that dates back more than 2,500 years. The length of a standard guzheng is 1.63 meters, and it is usually played by a musician sitting on a chair in front of the instrument. Players, who often perform solo, always wear finger picks made from materials such as plastic, resin and tortoiseshell on one or both hands. Modern guzheng instruments are often played by pinching the strings to play heptatonic notes and chords.