   li yundi () (born october 7, 1982) is a chinese classical pianist. he is also popularly known as yundi and formerly yundi li. born in chongqing, li is most well known for being the youngest pianist to win the international frÃ©dÃ©ric chopin piano competition, in 2000, at the age of 18. he currently resides in beijing. ==childhood== his father, li chuan, and his mother, zhang xiaolu, were both workers for the sichuan chongqing steel and iron company. although coming from a family of non-musicians, li took to music early. when he was three years old, his parents bought him an accordion after he became so entranced by an accordion player in a shopping mall that he refused to leave. he mastered the instrument by the age of four, studying with tan jianmin, a music professor in china. only one year later, he won the top prize at the chongqing children's accordion competition. li began studying piano at the age of seven. two years later, his teacher introduced him to dan zhaoyi, one of china's most renowned piano teachers, with whom he would study for nine years. li's ambition was to become a professional pianist. in 1994, he entered the shenzhen arts school, shenzhen, china. he later studied at the hochschule fÃ¼r musik, theater und medien hannover in hanover, germany. ==awards== li has received top awards at various competitions. he won the children's piano competition in beijing in 1994. in 1995, he was awarded first place at the stravinsky international youth competitio
1982_births Child_classical_musicians Chinese_classical_pianists Hochschule_fA 1/4 r_Musik,_Theater_und_Medien_Hannover_alumni International_Chopin_Piano_Competition_winners Living_people Musicians_from_Chongqing People_with_acquired_residency_of_Hong_Kong Recipients_of_the_Silver_Medal_for_Merit_to_Culture_a_Gloria_Artis