Wu Yili

Wu was born in 1931[3][4] into a prominent family in Shanghai, Republic of China, with her ancestral home in Heyuan, Guangdong province.

[4][5] At age six, Wu heard Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu from an American movie, and became determined to learn to play the piano.

[6][7] She won the first prize in Shanghai Children's Piano Contest after playing for only a year, and began studying with the Shanghai-based Italian musician Mario Paci at the age of ten.

[6] After the debut of the Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto in 1959, Wu was the first to make a piano arrangement for the work, and the first to perform it at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China that year.

[citation needed] Wu married Yang Bingsun (杨秉荪), the lead violinist of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra, where she worked at.

[7][9] Wu was forced to divorce him in order not to be implicated,[9][10] but was still beaten by the Red Guards and suffered long-term injuries in her feet.

Mario Paci (second row centre) with his colleagues and students in Shanghai, 1945. In the front row are two of his youngest students: Wu Yili (front right) and Fou Ts'ong (front left).