Do more of what makes you happy

The 28-year-old Mads Vesterager Nielsen is originally from Denmark where he grew up in Hillerød, but now he is living in Beijing, the capital of China, where he is living out his passion.

Mads is getting photographed after a gig. Photo: Mads Vesterager Nielsen.

Inspired by China

The interest in China and the Chinese culture comes from his time on the gymnasium. Here he had some teachers who focused on China, and the influence China will have in the world in the future. He found that very interesting, and after a trip to Vietnam, Mads decided to study at the University of Copenhagen for a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies. Here he found his passion. He liked the idea of using the things he learned in school as an inspiration to his songwriting, and at the same time learn something about the Chinese history and culture, which he knew he could use in the last semester that took place in China.

Chinese Bridge

[endif]--During the time at the university Mads participated in a competition called “Chinese Bridge” which is an international language-competition that is televised in China. He started with the preliminaries in Denmark where he qualified to represent Denmark in China. Even though he had only studied Chinese half the time as his competitors the competition went well. He saw the competition as a good chance to sing his songs on television for free. The competition gave him a lot of Chinese fans who are still texting him today.

The everyday life in China

Now he lives in Beijing where he is studying, working as an intern at the Danish embassy in Beijing, and writing his own songs which he is performing for the Chinese people. He has recently been on a tour along the silk road in China, where he played some gigs. The Chinese people like his music which is an untraditional mix of a Western songwriting tradition and the Chinese language.

Chasing dreams

It takes a lot of courage to follow your dreams, but Mads doesn’t regret for a second that he is following his. He feels it is important not to be afraid of failure. The important thing is to do what makes you happy, and to learn from the things that didn’t work out. “Have the courage to get knowledge”, Mads says.

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