She is featured in the Academy Award winning documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, directed by Murray Lerner.
Tsu Weiling was born in the city of Shanghai, China, and began playing the violin at the age of 3 under the guidance of her father.
Unfortunately, he forgot the deal, and she was left standing for hours such that upon his return, Tsu Weiling's face had "turned green" resorting to her being given a small one-eighth violin.
The Chinese Cultural Revolution, which began during Tsu Weiling's childhood, restricted all permitted music to eight Peking operas approved by Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong.
Since the classical music that Tsu Weiling was taught was banned, she was forced to hide her violin practices, often in basements.
This allowed her to audition for the Central Conservatory of Music after schools and universities were re-opened to college students, following a ban spanning ten years being lifted.
[1] Tsu Weiling began her studies at the Central Conservatory in Beijing in 1977 as part of the first generation of college students post-Cultural Revolution.
During her second year of college in 1979, Tsu Weiling performed in front of violin master Isaac Stern when he visited China.
During filming, Tsu Weiling met violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin who sponsored her to study in Switzerland.
[4] Between 1993–2000, Tsu Weiling held the position of First Associate Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra where her husband, maestro Long Yu, was guest conductor.
[citation needed] One of the main reasons for forming the trio is to provide the Chinese public an opportunity to listen to chamber music, which has a more intimate experience than orchestral concerts due to the much smaller number of players performing, in this case, three.
"[8]Among Tsu Weiling's pupils are Renchao Yu (2018 Zarin Mehta Fellow), Angela Chan, and Strauss Shi.
[9][10] Tsu Weiling is vocal about the need to continuously improve and credits the opportunities she was given for her achievements, "For me, the most disturbing problem at present is not the technical difficulties, but the most basic skills that we gain learning violin at the very beginning...It's more like a feeling and hard to explain but I enjoy, above anything else, the moment when I can extend a beautiful note and let it breathe.