I started playing the piano since 6 years old. I received about 8 years of rigorous training in China until I went to college. It has been my hobby ever since.

This year, starting in January 2010, I have been taking weekly lessons with Professor John Ellis, who is Chair of Piano and Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Michigan School of Music. Under his guidance I have played:

  • Chopin: Étude Op. 10, No. 2 (chromatic)
  • Brahms: Op. 118, No. 2 (Intermezzo)
  • Brahms: Op. 116, No 3 (Capriccio)
  • Brahms: Op. 35 (Variations on a Theme of Paganini)
  • Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
  • Liszt: Paganini Étude No. 3 (La Campanella)
  • Bach: Partita BWV 828 No.4 in D minor


Some major pieces that I’ve studied before include:

  • Over half of Chopin’s Études, Ballade No.1 and No.3, Scherzo No. 2, Fantaisie Op. 49, Impromptu No. 2, Fantaisie-Impromptu, Berceuse, some Nocturnes, Polonaises, Waltzes, Preludes.
  • Beethoven Sonatas- No.8 “Pathétique”, No.14 “moonlight”,No.17 “Tempest”, No. 21 “Waldstein”, No.23 “Appassionata”
  • About a dozen pieces in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier

Er Quan Ying Yue | 二泉映月

(The Moon Reflected on the Second Springs)

This video was recorded in 2001 in the performance hall of Shenyang Conservatory of Music, where I went  for piano lessons for about 8 years. It was an award ceremony for the winners in 2001 Toyama Cup Inter-Asian Piano Competition in Shenyang. After that competition, I stopped studying piano performance and worked for the National University Entrance Exam in 2002. So, it was the last time I was performing on stage and that piece of music was the best I have ever played(and probably ever will)--I was in the "peak" of my piano career, if I may say so.

Then, something about the composition. Almost every Chinese knows the music. It is a piano arrangement of "Er Quan Ying Yue"(The Moon Reflected on the Second Springs) written by Blind Abing (original name Hua Yanjun, 1893~1950). In early adulthood his sight declined and people called him Blind Abing. Like many other musicians in China at that time, Abing relied on performance in the streets to maintain himself. He didn't write down his music. Several of his performances were recorded by musicologists--including "Er Quan Ying Yue", the most famous one. The music was composed for Erhu, sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin"(https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Erhu). The music had no name. People asked Abing where he usually played it, and he said he often played it by the Second Springs(in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province), and there comes the name: The Moon Reflected on the Second Springs.

Although it was very difficult to imitate Erhu by piano, the musician who made the arrangement did a great work and I also did my best in performing it. When you are listening, imagine an old blind musician who went through every misery every pain in his life sitting by the spring with the moonlight shedding on the water.  There is nobody around, very quiet. Using the Erhu in his hand, he is telling a story, a story about his life. He starts with a long sigh. Then peacefully goes the music. And then he talks about things he went through-his embarrassment, humiliation, poverty, etc. Gradually, he goes agitated and then furious. Life is so unfair! Why?! But, I will never cave. I will continue fighting! Then suddenly, he comes back to reality. Still, he has nothing but his instruments. Tomorrow he will perform in the streets as usual. What should I do now?......

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