Songs of love and life

Chinese rock star Xu Wei has announced a yearlong tour with a new album, Chen Nan reports.

A painting showing a city at sunset-a message of peace and hope-is the cover of Xu Wei's new album, Shining On All.

He's one of China's most-popular rock stars. But Xu has rarely appeared in public after he released his last album, The Moment, in 2012. His new album was released online on Dec 26 and sold more than 50,000 copies in the first five days. Xu announced in Beijing on Thursday his 15-city tour with the new album, which begins in Shenzhen in May and ends in the capital in May 2020.

At the Beijing preview of his tour last week, he performed eight songs from his new album along with his band that includes his longtime friend and guitarist Li Yanliang. The band formed nine years ago. Fans from different parts of the country arrived ahead of Xu's show to take pictures and hoped to get a glimpse of the star.

"It's an album for live shows, which makes me feel strongly about myself. As I am getting older, the world is seemingly bigger and bigger to me," the 50-year-old says, with a shy smile.

"When we did the rehearsals last night, I told my band members that I feel happy and lucky that I can still write songs, release albums and tour."

Xu's own life-the ups and the downs-has inspired his music and lyrics.

"I am not good at making friends, and I am not a talkative person, so I spend a lot of time alone," Xu says.

"Inspiration can come anytime and anywhere, such as when I run near the hills by my house, when I brush my teeth before bedtime or when I take a train."

The 10 songs on the new album, all written and performed by Xu, including the title track, Only Love and Song in My Heart, are about nature, his family, the city and people and their emotions.