Youth appeal

Cheng says he wanted to highlight the inclusiveness, persistence, resilience and other merits of Chinese people in his lyrics. He quotes a Chinese poem that goes, "Each age brings forth new genius on this noble land, and each will rule its own domain for years to come." He says "a talented successor of Cantopop will emerge from the new generations".

"I hope that the younger generations can continuously bring vitality and creativity to the development of Cantopop music, giving the audience a feeling of lasting freshness," Cheng says.

The program uses narration, musical performance, clips of documentaries and interviews to unfold a picture that depicts how Cantopop germinated in Hong Kong people's industrious approach in seeking self-identity and a better life and flourished along with Hong Kong's thriving economic growth in the 1980s.

The Cantopop songs, with their literary value, patriotic undertones, sensitive description of different aspects of people's lives or the expression of emotions, have been tugging at the heartstrings of a large number of listeners. Similarly, the program, Infinity and Beyond, co-produced by Hunan Broadcasting System and Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, also enjoys popularity among audiences from both the mainland and Hong Kong.

The show has garnered an audience of 200 million on Hunan Satellite TV and more than 3.3 billion views on Mango TV, an online video-streaming platform affiliated to Hunan Broadcasting System, says its president Zhang Huali.

The program is estimated to have reached about 70 percent TV viewers in Hong Kong, becoming the most popular music variety show aired on TVB this year, according to Stella Ho Siu-wai, a producer with TVB.