Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao

The music of Bach enabled pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei to cope with the worst challenges of her life. After experiencing all of the consequences of the Mao regime and the Cultural Revolution, she emigrated to Paris in 1980. She was deeply marked by the great cultural darkness that came over her country under Mao. She was publicly humiliated, her teachers were intimidated and her musical scores were burned. In this personal and touching documentary about the immense power of music, Paul Smaczny tells Zhu Xiao-Mei’s story as she agrees to return to China for the first time and discovers a country transformed.