Written as a less demanding companion piece to the longer, more complex Phrygian Gates (1977), John Adams' China Gates is intended to give younger pianists a view into the world of "conceptual" minimalism. While Phrygian Gates makes use of a progression through half a dozen tonal centers that gradually shift between mode types -- and which requires, in all, some twenty-five minutes -- China Gates compresses this plan into a single tonal center and a much shorter duration. In Adams' words, China Gates "calls attention to the details of dark and light, and the shadows that exist between them."