China's national artistic swimming team won silver at the 2026 World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, with their group routine Sui Yu·Zhi Yin, or Water Whispers Soulmates.
The performance fused athletic precision with Eastern artistic sensibilities, bringing the classical Chinese idea of "meeting a kindred spirit amid mountains and flowing waters" vividly to life in the pool.
The music was composed by Qian Qi, a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, whose work spans musicals, dance dramas, acrobatics and competitive sports.
"Music serves as an invisible conductor," Qian said. "In artistic swimming, underwater music ensures synchronization when athletes cannot rely on visual cues, guiding every lift, turn, and formation."
Inspired by the legendary guqin (Chinese zither) piece High Mountains and Flowing Water, Qian reimagined its spirit rather than its melody, creating a composition that aligns second-by-second with the athletes' movements. The work balances moments of subtle grace with sweeping grandeur, evoking the imagery of classical Chinese landscapes.
"Rather than directly quoting the original melody, I reinterpreted its essence for the pool, capturing its landscape imagery and humanistic depth in a brand-new composition tailored for performance," the composer said.
Qian's collaboration with sports extends beyond swimming. He has also composed for China's national figure skating team. He emphasizes that in competitive sports, music is no longer merely accompaniment.
"Composing for artistic swimming has unique challenges," Qian added. "You need to integrate sound design elements, such as underwater breathing and flowing water sounds, while managing rhythm contrasts, moments of silence, and split-second movement adjustments. These are the core challenges of composing for this sport."
Historically, international competitions have long relied on Western classical music, opera, ballet, and musical theater. Chinese teams often used these works in the past, but this posed intellectual property challenges and limited artistic autonomy.
"Commissioning original music is essential to developing a uniquely Chinese expression in international competition," Qian noted. "Music is no longer just an accessory; it is embedded in scoring, narrative, and artistic identity."
