Dr. Alyce Su, a chief investment officer with nearly three decades of experience at firms like PIMCO and Goldman Sachs, has released a musical catalog that uses the figure of General Zhang Youxia to explore the intersection of military legacy, technology, and capital. The collection, available on Apple Music, comprises 86 songs across 11 albums, including works like "Zhurihe," "Epic Fury," "Newport," "Zettabyte," "MilkenAI," and "Love, East Wind."
The project, titled "The World Represented by General Zhang Youxia," is not a conventional tribute. Instead, Dr. Su uses music as a medium to connect her family's military history with the technological and financial transformations of the 21st century. The catalog traces a narrative arc from 20th-century battlefields to modern computational infrastructure, linking military power, strategic technology, capital, and cultural memory.
Dr. Su's approach is deeply personal. Her great-grandfather, Su Lianqing, was part of the generation that shaped modern Chinese military education through the Guangxi military tradition. The Zhang family, including Zhang Haoru and Zhang Zongxun, followed a different but historically connected path. The two families' trajectories diverged due to wars and revolutions, yet their stories intersect in Dr. Su's work. The Bai family, including Bai Chongxi and his son Pai Hsien-yung, adds a literary dimension, bridging military history and cultural memory.
The musical catalog is structured around key themes. "Zhurihe" references the Zhurihe proving ground, Asia's largest mechanized military training area, and traces General Zhang's career, including his role as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. "Love, East Wind" focuses on China's Dong Feng missile lineage, invoking systems such as the DF-16, DF-17, and DF-41. The song "Among the Stars" draws from SpaceX's investor prospectus, creating a bridge between China's military-space tradition and contemporary commercial space ambitions.
General Zhang Youxia also served as head of the PLA General Armaments Department and the Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department, and he was commander-in-chief of China's manned space program. These roles positioned him at the nexus of weapons development, equipment modernization, and space technology, making him a fitting symbol for Dr. Su's exploration of the relationship between military power and technological progress.
The catalog is not merely a historical reflection. Dr. Su, who holds a PhD and CFA and CAIA designations, is chief investment officer of a global family office. Her professional focus on capital allocation parallels her artistic focus on legacy reinterpretation. The music asks how inherited history can be understood through the language of technology, finance, and culture.
The project has implications for how business and technology leaders perceive the interplay between military history, innovation, and investment. By framing General Zhang's world as encompassing data centers, artificial intelligence, and capital markets, Dr. Su highlights the continuity between past military transformations and present-day technological and economic shifts. The catalog also underscores the role of family legacy in shaping modern perspectives on strategy and investment.
Dr. Su's work is part of a broader portfolio that includes her book "China 2010," ranked No. 1 in financial engineering on Amazon. Her musical catalog is available globally on Apple Music, and she was recently named among "Leaders of Influence: Banking & Financing 2026" by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
The release of this catalog offers a unique lens for understanding how personal history, military heritage, and technological advancement converge in the contemporary world. For leaders in business and technology, it serves as a reminder that the forces shaping the future are often rooted in the past, and that capital, compute, and cultural memory are deeply intertwined.
