In 1959, Yin won an award at the World Youth Peace and Friendship Festival in Vienna, Austria, and in 1960, he was sent to the Leningrad Conservatory to study.
In 1973, during the Cultural Revolution, Yin joined the Chinese Communist Party, and, four years earlier in 1969, at the suggestion of Jiang Qing, changed his name to Yin Chengzhong (殷诚忠), as his original given name, Chengzong (承宗, literally "carrying on the ancestral legacy"), was considered unsuitable due to its supposed association with the perpetuation of the traditions of the exploiting class; his new given name, Chengzhong (诚忠), carried the literal meaning of "sincere and loyal."
Yin and other members of a special committee arranged this work in 1969 based on the Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai.
[citation needed] In 1983, following difficulties with the new post-Mao Chinese Communist Party due to his alleged closeness to the Gang of Four, Yin emigrated to the US, and in the same year, he made his debut in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
[citation needed] Yin has released more than 20 albums, including an all-Chopin CD, a recording of Debussy's Preludes, and the Yellow River Concerto.