[1] His father was the renowned violinist and music professor Sheng Xue (盛雪), and his mother was the vocalist Zhu Bing (朱冰).
[1] When Yehudi Menuhin visited China in 1979, he performed Bach's Concerto for Two Violins with Sheng and highly praised him afterwards.
He was subsequently named by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as "one of the world's greatest artists", making him one of the first internationally famous Chinese violinists.
[2] Sheng married the Japanese pianist Hiroko Seta (濑田裕子) and frequently performed in Japan with his wife.
[1] After the Great Hanshin earthquake hit Kobe, Japan in 1995, he toured the disaster-stricken area and was honoured by the Japanese government as a cultural ambassador.