Photo provided to China Daily

"I have been listening to his music since the early 1990s and I'm familiar with his latest album. So I think he will be the perfect artist for this crossover performance," Zhou says.

Dou, 44, was one of China's first original rock musicians in the 1990s. When his marriage with pop-diva Faye Wong came to an end, he became involved in confrontations with the paparazzi, before finally turning away from media attention. In the past few years he has lived in seclusion, created experimental music, avoided public appearances and sold his albums online.

He readily agreed to participate in Zhou's project, though. "I often have concerns about strange subjects or unfamiliar performance approaches," Dou says in response to Zhou's proposal. "But I am quite interested in the methodology and subject that Zhou proposed. It fits well with my new music. I think we can present a joint performance. It's an honor for me to work with a serious research institution."

The 50-minute performance will consist of Dou playing his original composition Tears of the River behind a translucent curtain, and Zhou writing texts from the ancient book Shui Jing Zhu, or Commentary on the Water Classic, a work on China's ancient waterways and the geography, compiled by Li Daoyuan in the fifth century.

The silhouette of Dou will be projected on the screen, alongside Zhou's calligraphy.

A concert intended to enlighten as much as entertain. It will be followed by a video projection and brief lecture by Zhou.