Wang Xilin

Wang Xilin (; born December 13, 1936) is a Chinese composer. Life Wang was born in Kaifeng, Henan province and spent his childhood in Pingliang in the Gansu Province. When he was 12 he taught himself music theory, the huqin, accordion, brass instruments, as well as instrumentation and arranging. His first exposure to Western music was in 1955 when he began studying conducting at a music school run by the People’s Liberation Army Central Committee. He studied theory and piano at a teachers college in Shanghai and graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory in 1962 where he studied composition with Liu Zhuang, Ding Shande, and Qu Wei. While still a student, Wang composed his String Quartet No. 1 (1961) and the first movement of his Symphony No. 1 (op. 2, 1962, this was his graduation work) which led to his appointment in 1963 as composer-in-residence of the Central Radio Symphony Orchestra. Later in 1963 there were political changes in China under Chairman Mao Zedong which led to a crackdown on Western music, especially that of the 20th century. Wang gave a two-hour public speech in 1964 criticising such policies, which led to him being stripped of his position with the Central Radio Sy