(Adams soon gave this work a companion, his Phrygian Gates, finished the next year.
China Gates is one of Adams' first mature works, which he wrote for the then 17-year-old pianist Sarah Cahill during a rainy season in northern California.
Adams himself has suggested that the constant eighth notes of the piece reflect the steady rainfall of the time.
K. Robert Schwarz has noted how the style of China Gates is in keeping with the ideas of "process music" of Steve Reich.
In the first part, the modes alternate between A-flat mixolydian and G-sharp aeolian, which sound almost like the major and minor versions of the same key.