‘Life changing’: Hong Kong teen flies high under star violinist’s mentorship
Li Ching-po, 15, joined government’s Strive and Rise Programme in 2022 and has gone on to perform in front of President Xi Jinping
A mentorship scheme designed to lift Hong Kong pupils living in subdivided flats out of poverty arranged for a teenager to be coached by world-acclaimed violinist Yao Jue and perform in front of state leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
Li Ching-po, 15, enrolled in the first iteration of the government’s Strive and Rise Programme in 2022 and two years later performed in front of state leaders. He also joined his mentor on stage for the city’s National Day variety show last Thursday.
“The government’s programme is certainly a life-changing event for him as he was given opportunities to learn music, hone his skills and see the world through his own eyes,” Yao told the Post on Tuesday.
Yao, a Juilliard-trained violin virtuoso who founded the Hong Kong String Orchestra, also noted: “It was also after his [first] meeting with the chief executive that he became more confident and more diligent in practising the violin, which would be shown in his great progress made in the past three years.”
Li was among 2,800 Form One to Three students enrolled in the government’s Strive and Rise Programme in 2022. Participants are then assigned mentors and receive HK$10,000 (US$1,278) each.