Weishan Liu began training in the classical style of the gu-zheng from the age of eleven when the acclaimed gu-zheng master Cao Zheng (1920-1998) picked her to study with him at the Shen Yang Music Conservatory. She later also had additional instruction with Yan Li and Zhao Yuzhai. In 1974, at a nationwide traditional music contest she performed her original composition "The Magnificent Bronze Gorge," and her arrangement of "Harvest," and won first prizes in both the composition and performance categories. She then joined the Central Song and Dance Ensemble of China as a guzheng soloist, making recordings and performing and touring with them, as well as often performing for visiting heads of state.

Ms. Liu moved to the United States in 1982, and founded The San Francisco Gu-Zheng Music Society to promote the music of the guzheng and traditional Chinese music and culture, and to provide cultural exchange and performance opportunities for musicians of all levels. In 1988 Ms. Liu made her first acclaimed solo gu-zheng recording, The Magnificent Bronze Gorge. She also recorded an ensemble album with the Dun Huang Music Ensemble in 1994 titled High Moon. She has collaborated with Western orchestras and ensembles such as the Bay Area Women's Philharmonic and Earplay. She has often been invited as a guest to perform live on-air concerts for KNBR, KTVU, KTSF and KQED. Ms. Liu has also lent her expertise on recorded soundtracks for such contemporary films as "Dim Sum," "Eat a Bowl of Tea," "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story," "Indiana Jones," and "Thousand Pieces of Gold." Her popularity as a great guzheng performer has led to tours in the United States and more than 20 other countries.

It is hard to be serious in completing a task.
Even more so to be both serious and persistent.

To learn gu-gheng,
one must start with the proper techniques;
one must have a serious determined attitude;
one must have unyielding focus to develop
technical mastery and, more importantly,
one needs to have the humble desire
to increase artistic maturity.

This is the way of the gu-zheng
and the way of life!

- Weishan Liu

Ms. Liu has recently started extensively recording her solo repertoire and new solo arrangements, compositions, and experiments with co-producer George Winston. She recorded with George Winston "Theme from A Thousand Pieces of Gold" for the album Cinema: A Windham Hill Collection which was released in March 2005. In April 2006, she released her second solo CD Morning Bell. Her latest CD, Great Ocean, has just been released and can be ordered from this website.