If you’re a C-pop fan, you may have seen twentieth-century poet Xu Zhimo make an unlikely cameo recently. In the viral hit music video “Greatest Works of Art,” Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou sneaks into the Samaritaine department store in Paris in the middle of the night and plays a magical piano that sends him back in time. As Chou romps through Parisian cafes and elegant Haussmann apartments, he meets some of the greatest artists of the last century, such as René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Claude Monet, Chinese painter Sanyu, and even piano superstar Lang Lang.
Of course, the best is saved for last, when a bespectacled Xu Zhimo slides into the frame and onto a lush red banquette at an art deco cafe where Chou is enjoying an espresso. Xu Zhimo exuberantly flips through pages of his personal notebook and recites a few lines of poetry for the startled and admiring Chou; the pop star in turn impresses him with a trick of his own. Within the first two weeks the video was released, it received more than 200 million views in China , and many million more since then. Experience the magic for yourself—and then check out this behind-the-scenes making of the video.