When erhu player Dong Jinming introduced jazz music to the people of Nanjing, China, it wasn’t an easy task. For one thing, he had to teach himself all of the sharps and flats heard in jazz, which would be anathema to traditional Chinese musicians. And while jazz was growing in popularity in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it still was unheard-of in the capital city of Jiangsu province.

“It’s not that easy to introduce this kind of music to people,” Dong tells the Georgia Straight in Chinese while on the phone from his home in Nanjing. “I was one of the first people [in China] to recognize what jazz music was in 1999. I came back from trips abroad, where I learned about jazz music, so in 2002 I started to introduce jazz to the people of Nanjing.”

Dong used his teaching position at Nanjing University to present the music to students, particularly those studying erhu, the classical Chinese upright violin, which Dong has mastered. “There are more and more Nanjing people who like different music. They really like the different melodies, and university students especially like jazz music,” Dong says.

The international performer, who has given concerts throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, and was sent as an official Chinese ambassador to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, also spread the sounds of jazz across Nanjing by starting the Nanjing Jazz and World Music Festival in 2002. “Lots of countries that are not similar get together and use music as a way to understand and exchange culture,” Dong explains. “Jazz music belongs to world music. That’s why I really like doing cultural exchanges with music.”

Dong will participate in a cultural exchange of sorts when he gives a free erhu workshop, and a performance with Birds of Paradox, during the Vancouver jazz festival. The local group, which fuses jazz with elements of Chinese, Indian, and other western sounds, includes another erhu player, Lan Tung, as well as Rom Samworth on guitar and effects, and Neelamjit Dhillon on saxophone, flute, and tabla.

“Every year I bring my erhu to many different countries and play with other musicians to make different music,” Dong says. “To China or to any other country, music is music, and there isn’t anything specific that makes it different. Classical music, folk music, pop music, opera music, and jazz music is all music at the end of the day.”

Birds of Paradox and Dong Jinming play Performance Works on July 1. His workshop takes place at the Tom Lee Music Hall on June 29.