The King of Violins

How China’s most celebrated violin prodigy became an enemy of the state.

The King of Violins is the heartbreaking story of China's most celebrated violin prodigy, Ma Sicong, who composed his first concerto at the age of 12. During his career, this gentle, dignified man composed 57 of the world's best-known symphonies and concertos, and performed in front of hundreds of sold-out audiences across the globe.

Chairman Mao Zedong declared Ma Sicong "a national treasure" and nicknamed him "the King of Violins". But Chairman Mao's brutal Cultural Revolution distorted the truth of Ma's life and work. He was forced to wear a dunce cap and was publicly humiliated and physically abused by cadres of Red Guards as "a vile product of bourgeois thinking".

Ma and his family made a breathtaking escape in the darkness to America. After Chairman Mao died in 1976, the real circumstances of Ma's poignant, bittersweet life were buried in the pages of history by an embarrassed Chinese government. Eleven years later, Ma died at the age of 76 in Philadelphia.

The King of Violins, written in cooperation with all of Ma's remaining family members, is the first politically balanced life story about this generous, conflicted musical genius.