Liu Shiming’s album[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Baby opens mouth to sing

Right after his first-ever cry upon arrival at a downtown corner in Beijing in late 1930s, Liu caught pneumonia that probably was caused by a young house maid using a fan to cool his sweat. His traditional mother, 45 years old then, insisted on giving the youngest child after seven others full medical treatment. Liu miraculously denied abandonment, yet the relieved mother and the chief-telephone-engineer father found the boy dumb.

"Mother told me that the families were all worried, but she thought she’d rather leave my possible disadvantage aside and go on life as usual," Liu says. "So a radio became my toy and the tunes of traditional opera and music were like my daily food."

Then one summer day at five years old, the radio again broadcast a piece of Peking song performed to drum, named jingyun dagu. The two lines so familiar to Liu's ear jumped out of his mouth: "The 16-year-old beauty is shown in the mirror and Cui Yingying lies in her chamber".

"My family members were appalled or voiceless before pleased," Liu says. "And speaking was no longer a problem."

That explosion of singing launched Liu on years of peculiar interest for singing. His quick mind and strong memory seemed to have stored and replayed all kinds of roles in Peking opera and folklore singing available at the time. Upon graduation from No 4 High School of Beijing, a top one in the city, he was enrolled simultaneously by three colleges: the traditional opera academy, one for French language study, and one for movie production. Eventually he chose his childhood favorite: Singing at the Central Experimental Opera Troupe in Beijing.