Rarely known among the wider public, the flute's distinctive sound and pretty, mellow notes has proved popular with producers of pop culture, as in the case of the background music for the hit Japanese animated series Naruto: Shippuden and Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale.

With a strong desire to highlight how the instrument's musical origins began in China, Yu led a film crew on more than 30 trips between China and Japan to retrace the footsteps of the shakuhachi, turning their efforts into a new documentary which is about to be released.

Titled Shakuhachi: One Sound One Life, the 90-minute documentary is scheduled to open across domestic theaters on Friday.

The crew visited a dozen cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Tokyo and Nara, to interview top shakuhachi performers and instrument makers, as well as young learners.

Among the people interviewed were Kinohachi, a 48-year-old master known for performing shakuhachi in temples; Akihisa Kominato, 41, who is popular for combining ancient tunes with modern music; and John Kaizan Neptune, an American shakuhachi player and instrument maker.

Yu is the wife of Victor Koo, founder of Youku, one of China's most popular video streaming platforms, which was sold to internet giant Alibaba Group in 2015.