Members of the 1st Viennese Community Choir sing for residents at a community in Vienna, Austria, on June 22, 2020. Members of the 1st Viennese Community Choir gave a performance at a community in Vienna on Monday, the first time since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. The choir, founded in 2008, is composed of ordinary residents. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

The ongoing 15th China International Chorus Festival has moved online in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the move seems to have actually helped raise its popularity. For instance, the opening ceremony that was streamed online on Monday earned more than 120 million views, the highest number of views in the history of the event.

More than 20 top choruses from home and abroad are taking part in 2020's festival, including the Vienna Boys' Choir, Estonia Voices and the Beijing Philharmonic Choir.

Amid the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic around the world, choirs outside China have not been able to attend events in person, so many activities for the musical festival, such as the opening ceremony, are being held online. 

The hosts of the opening ceremony were physically present at different locations, but through the power of the internet were able to host together despite the vast distance between them. Jin Chengzhi, creator of a renowned Chinese choir, was in Shanghai, while Eva May was in Vienna. 

The most touching part of the opening ceremony was "The Most Beautiful Contrarian" by the Beijing Hospital Choir, which showed people's appreciation and respect for all the medical personnel who work on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic.

Several overseas choirs performed classic Chinese songs. The Vienna Boys' Choir sang "I love you, China" and a South Korean choir sang "The Moon Represents My Heart" in Chinese.

At the end of the ceremony, thousands of people sang "We Are The World," perfectly displaying the charm of the choral art.