Zhu, born and raised in Panzhihua, became interested in music when he was a boy by watching a local Sichuan opera troupe's performances in a machine factory in which his fathered worked.

The troupe performed every weekend, and Zhu not only attended performances but sneaked backstage to watch actors and actresses doing makeup and rehearsing.

His father sensed his son's interest and let Zhu learn to play the drums with a music teacher. As the country's rock music scene emerged in 1980s Zhu became enraptured and listened to songs of bands such as Black Panther and Tang Dynasty, as well as the rock pioneer Cui Jian.

"Like many of my classmates I listened to pop music too, but listening to rock music gave me goose bumps."

In August 1995, when he was 24, he quit his job in the machine factory in which his father worked and, with live savings in hand, boarded a bus before switching to a train for the 3,000-kilometer, 24-hour train journey to Beijing. His destination: the Midi School of Music, China's first school of contemporary music.

What attracted him to the school was the fact that faculty members were all well-known rock music players he knew as a fan, he says, and not even the hefty three-month tuition fee of 780 yuan, a princely sum in those days, could deter him.