On this date in 1973, Eugene Ormandy conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in music by Mozart, Brahms, and this Third Symphony of American composer Roy Harris. The program itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but the concert happened to take place in the People's Republic of China, making the Philadelphia Orchestra the first American orchestra ever to perform in Communist China. The orchestra was invited following the famous visit to China of President and Mrs. Nixon and secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. Like them, the Philadelphia Orchestra was given a warm, even royal welcome by the Chinese. At one concert in Beijing, Madame Mao herself appeared on stage to give flowers to each of the players. Musical interaction between China and America really took off in the 1980s, when a number of Chinese composers immigrated to America. Among them was Zhou Long, who was born in Beijing in 1953. His musical education was interrupted by the Madame Mao's Cultural Revolution, but resumed in 1973, the same year as the Philadelphia Orchestra's visit. He came to the United States in 1985 to study at Columbia University, and made New York his home. Of his music, Zhou says: "I have stretched the Western instruments eastward, the Chinese instruments westward, to achieve a volatile common ground." This is his arrangement of a Chinese folksong titled "Driving the Mule Team," recorded by the Shanghai Quartet.