[Photo provided to China Daily]

"It's rare to see warm interactions during classical music concerts but we break that rule."

Eighty percent of the group's members are amateurs with the average age being 24. They meet once a week to rehearse, and each time, the members sing in different languages, such as Latin and Japanese.

Xu Shiyu, 26, joined the choir a year ago. The art management postgraduate student says, like the other members, he has a lot of fun in the group.

"Jin is funny and smart. He conducts our rehearsals in a way like he's presenting a talk show," says Xu. "There are many choruses in Shanghai but we have a different style, thanks to him."

Xu says the members are like family. They often gather together for hot pot.

Among Jin's ongoing projects are pieces commissioned by Sun Yat-sen University in the country's south, describing campus life, and other songs based on poems by Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) poet Xin Qiji.

"I am not an ambitious person, and the choir is not ambitious either. I just write music based on real life, such as drinking water, watching the mountains or losing a key, and the emotions are straightforward," says Jin.