In recent decades, Chinese piano music has been enjoying ever growing presence in international concert hall. Yet, scholarly literature in English illuminating this music and providing context about historical roots of Chinese traditional music is still relatively sparse. This research focuses on a contemporary Chinese composer, Zhao Zhang (b. 1964), and his three widely performed piano pieces, Pi-Huang, Numa Ame and Chinese Dream. The author analyzes these works through a study of recordings of Zhang's masterclasses, interviews, and relevant secondary literature about Chinese traditional music. This analysis aims to understand how Zhang fuses the medium of piano music, which originated in Europe, with distinctly Chinese perspectives, and to provide a pathway for musicians trained in European models to perform this music in a convincing and informed way.