Shenggu, a podcaster [Photo provided to China Daily]

Water dedicated artist

He has used different materials and fabrics upon which to record the sound of falling rain. Once he recorded the sound of an array mbira－a musical instrument with a unique harp-or bell-like sound－being struck by rain, a decision that resonated with users. "The combination of the array mbira and the rain is like that silky feeling between coffee and milk," one listener commented.

Rain, he notes, is also one of the hardest sounds to record, even though it rains a lot in Jiangnan, the region south of the Yangtze River, as it's all hard to predict－when it is going to rain, how heavy the rainfall and when it will stop. He once drove 50 kilometers to record a thunderstorm but returned empty-handed.

He usually keeps his recorder fully charged, and knows where he wants to record before the rain comes.

While recording the sound of nature, urban noise is an obstacle for Shenggu, such as the sound from cars or airplanes.

It is not just a case setting up the recorder and the microphone.

To record the pure sound of rain, he doesn't wear a raincoat, to avoid catching the sound of the rain hitting the material, and he has to remain still. As a result, he endures mosquito bites and is often left soaking wet.

When it thunders, he tries to get as close to the lightning as possible. Once, while recording at a lake, the thunder and lightning almost occurred right overhead.

He sees the recording work as his second job that he fits in with his main employment at a film and TV service company.

From the sound of stepping on snow in a forest at 1 am, the flowing spring water next to a maple tree at 4 am to a bee buzzing in the shrubs at 6 am, for the past seven years, he has kept exploring more of the sounds of nature around him.