My daughter is a natural at Chinese World Music!

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I inherited 2 cheap and cheerful keyboards when my dad passed on. My 11-year old started tinkering and now she's putting little melodies together. She doesn't read music, and at school all she did was the usual "singing and rhythm" stuff - she's at a good secondary from September so she'll get more help. I love my music but can't play for toffee. Thing is, she's started going all modal on me! Earlier she happily settled into a recognisable Chinese style and banged out some crafty little head arrangements. Then she went into the Western scale (i.e. standard keyboard) and did some noodling, but found it harder to get going - mainly stuck to riffs but couldn't develop them. Then she switched to a kind of ancient Church style, which was nice. But it's the Chinese style where she seems to have developed a natural flair. I want to know - what is it the Chinese modal scales? Are they easier to learn than Western ones? I think they're based on 5 notes, but she got the effect by hitting 2 notes at the same time, like 2-note chords. Is there any reason why an untrained 11-year old, who doesn't have any affiliation with Chinese culture - apart from the usual takeaways and visits to Chinatown at New Year - should take to it so easily on a keyboard? What is it that makes these World music scales so unique anyway? Nina simone had a way of playing that often reminded me of Native American music, though I think that was more the rhythm than the chords.