Zhou is one of the star soloists and has also partially arranged some pieces, such as “High Mountain and Floating Water” from the new “Shanghai” CD (Manhattan Records). She plays the guzheng , a 25-string zither similar to the Japanese koto . “When I was a child most people liked Western music, like violin or piano,” she says. “But my parents decided, ‘You are Chinese girl, so you should play Chinese music.’ So I choose the guzheng , because it is maybe the No. 1 instrument in Chinese music.