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The 1980s adaptation of “Journey to the West” has an all-time great opening theme. So why did its composer fade into obscurity? Like millions of Chinese millennials, I spent my childhood summer vacations planted in front of the TV, binging a near-endless stream of reruns of the 1986 TV adaptation of “Journey to the West” — one of China’s best-known classical novels and the origin of the Monkey King. Even now, the show’s opening theme remains etched in my memory. I didn’t know its name — originally titled “Prelude to the Journey to the West,” it’s better known today as “Celestial Symphony” — and I was much too young to grasp the full brilliance of its blend of traditional Chinese music and electronic sounds. But it nevertheless made an impression: Even a single note could spark my imagination, conjuring images of the Monkey King soaring into the sky, the westward pilgrimage of the monk Tang Sanzang, and the mysterious deities watching over them. I am far fr
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