Story of Lang Lang

Lang Lang is one of the world's greatest concert pianists.

His first contact with Western music was when he was just two years old.

He watched a cartoon in which a cat played a famous piece by Franz Liszt.

From this experience, he decided he wanted to learn to play the piano.

When he was three and half years old, he started piano lessons.

Two years later he won first place in a piano competition.

This early success gave his father high hopes that Lang Lang would become a great pianist.

What experience introduce Lang Lang to Western music? He watched a cartoon in which a cat played the piano.

When Lang Lang was nine years old, his father quit his job and took him to Beijing.

They left everything behind, including his mother who had to work.

Lang Lang didn't want to leave her behind, but his father insisted.

His father wanted him to study at the famous Central Conservatory of Music.

Why did his father take him to Beijing? His father wanted him to study at the famous college.

When they moved to Beijing, they rented a flat in a poor area of the city. 

During this time, Lang Lang practiced for several hours a day.

He started practicing at 5 o'clock, which upset his neighbors.

They would often pound on his door and ask him to stop practicing.

They were so angry that he often feared that they would beat him up.

Why were his neighbors upset? His practice woke him up.

Lang Lang usually had piano lessons once a week to prepare for the Conservatory.

Nearly 2000 students were applying for just 12 places at the Conservatory.

His lessons were expensive and very difficult, especially because of his piano teacher.

His music teacher didn't like Lang Lang.

He called his teacher "Professor Angry" because she always gave him a hard time.

What was the purpose of his lessons? He wanted to study at the Conservatory.

One afternoon, his teacher told him he had no talent and told him to go home.

Upon hearing the news, his father screamed and seemed to lose his mind.

His father told him that everything was destroyed and there was no reason to live.

He ordered Lang Lang to jump off the 11th-floor balcony.

After this, Lang Lang almost went crazy.

He didn't want to play the piano anymore.

What happened one afternoon? His teacher told him to go home.

What did his father tell him? There is no reason to live.

For several months, he neither played the piano nor spoke to his father.

Then some friends encouraged him to play a piece for them, and he realized his great love of the piano.

For the next 19 months, he practiced hard and his father encouraged him.

Finally, when he was 10, he was accepted into the Conservatory with a full scholarship.

Why did he start practicing again? He realized his great love of the piano.

In 1995, when he was 13 years old, he played music by Chopin in the Beijing Concert Hall.

In that same year he won first place in an international competition for young musicians in Japan.

When he was 15, he moved to the United States and began studies with a famous pianist at the Curtis Institute.

Since then his career has grown and he has become a major star.

One American music critic called him "the biggest, most exciting keyboard talent I have encountered in many a year of attending piano recitals."

What did he do when he was 15? He went to study in the United States.

In 2010, Lang Lang signed a recording contract for several million dollars.

In 2011, he performed at the White House for Presidents Obama of the United States and Hu Jintao of China.

With all of his success and fame, Lang Lang tries to encourage others.

He uses his fame to spread the popularity of classical music and encourage young musicians.

And in the end, Lang Lang and his father have rebuilt their relationship.

In his autobiography, Mr Lang dedicated the book to his mother and father.