Music from fiddles fit for an emperor By Chen Nan | China Daily | Updated: 2021-05-08 08:36 Share CLOSE MILA String Quartet performs at the concert hall of Tianjin Juilliard School on Dec 16, 2020.[Photo provided to China Daily] Li began playing the violin when he was 5 and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School when he was 14, in 1979. Three years later he was selected through the first cultural exchange program between Shanghai and San Francisco to study for one year at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. "With economic development and the rise of the middle class in China, many new concert halls have sprung up and many children study classical music, which has made China an exciting country for classical music," he says.