On 1 January 2025, we were combing the shoreline of Fangchenggang, Guangxi, searching for shells at low tide. For KLASSIKOM, that quiet moment by the sea marked the beginning of a year that was destined to be anything but ordinary.
Over the following twelve months, we took nearly 60 flights, crossed half the globe in longitude and latitude, and travelled to close to ten countries and regions. Our total time in the air approached 200 hours, the equivalent of circling the Earth at the equator two and a half times. All of it was driven by a single purpose: to bring our readers an ocean of music.
This was a year of relentless movement. With a travel rhythm that averaged one and a half flights a week, we witnessed the emergence of new artists, listened to the birth of new works, and saw two brand-new orchestras take shape before our eyes. We attended the launch of inaugural seasons, returned to enduring classics with fresh ears, and spent time with musicians who were willing to treat KLASSIKOM as a friend rather than a bystander. From the front of the stage to the unseen spaces behind it, we filmed stories that carried warmth, struggle and humanity.
At times, the greatest difficulty lay not in the journey itself, but in the destination. In late August, during our assignment in Matsumoto, Japan, we worked under pressures far beyond what most people might imagine, yet still completed our critical coverage. Because of the sensitivity involved, the specifics of those challenges cannot yet be made public. What can be said is that the experience tested the limits of endurance, judgement and responsibility.
Even so, curiosity continued to drive us forward. We kept moving across continents because first-hand, original, exclusive stories, those that no one else has told, remain the standard we refuse to compromise. Every story we share, every video we release, every line we write revolves around music and the people who make it. Some stories inevitably fade from view, but most remain archived across all domestic and international KLASSIKOM platforms, quietly waiting to be rediscovered.
Over time, KLASSIKOM in English has become a window through which the world glimpses the living, breathing landscape of Chinese music today. Our reports are frequently cited by overseas media and by visiting musicians from abroad, who share them across their own social networks. In many cases, a simple Google search in English for a Chinese composer, a young pianist, an opera title or a traditional instrumentalist will return pages where KLASSIKOM accounts for a striking share of the results.
Just as we felt the year drawing to a close, ready to lower the curtain and prepare for the new one ahead, fate intervened. From a land marked by conflict, a call to assemble arrived without warning. By the time you read this, one of our special correspondents will already be on another long journey, travelling thousands of miles once again.
This, then, is KLASSIKOM’s 2025.
