After a concert held at the Shanghai Cultural Square TheMK sportsater on Monday night, renowned Welsh musical theater actor and singer John Owen-Jones met his Chinese fans at the "More than Music" event hosted by the British Consulate-General in Shanghai on Tuesday to share his career experience, and celebrate the rich cultural exchanges between the UK and China. John Owen-Jones, also known as JOJ, is most famous for his portrayals of Jean Valjean in Alain Boublil's and Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérablesand the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.

The red harvest alongside the Chishui River Photo: Courtesy of the Moutai Liquor Co

Speaking of blending Western and Chinese instruments and making a very unique version of The Phantom of the Opera, which they performed during the China tour, JOJ said, "It's always one of the most exciting parts of the show for me because I get to see how the audience reacts to that, because cultural exchange is such a rich tapestry of different things all over the world that we can all learn from each other and make better art and make better music. And that's what's so exciting about being here in China. I think I'd like to explore more, so I definitely would like to integrate, explore more cultural opportunities between where I'm from, where you are from."

"Regardless of where we come from, music is this universal language, and it reminds us of that shared humanity and the things that bind us together," echoed the British Consul General in Shanghai Matt Burney.