Gary Graffman gives a performance and a master class in Beijing during his 32nd visit to China. Jiang Dong

American pianist Gary Graffman, 81, has visited China 32 times so far, but "most of the tours had nothing to do with music", he says.

The great musician, famous for playing the piano using just his left hand, is also known in China as teacher of world-famous Chinese pianists Lang Lang, Yujia Wang and Haochen Zhang, the 19-year-old who won the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the US in June.

During his latest trip, Graffman tells Chinaculture.org he is an avid collector of Chinese art.

"I have traveled everywhere in China since my first tour in 1981 as I am a big collector of Asian art works," he says.

On Tuesday night, Graffman gave a rousing performance at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, as part of the ongoing Beijing Music Festival. But it was his the little-known backstage stories that gave his Chinese fans new new insight into this great musician.

"I have hundreds of pieces of Chinese paintings, calligraphy and ceramics from the Han, Tang, Song and Qing dynasties. I have a very treasured calligraphic work by the famous artist and scholar Dong Qichang (1555-1636)," the gray-haired pianist adds with pride.

In 1981, five years after the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), when many Western musicians such as Isaac Stern and Claudio Abbado toured China, Graffman embarked on his first trip with a group of museum curators, collectors and auctioneers to "discover" Chinese art treasures.