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Yin Chengzong

Chinese composer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ836707 ↗
Source-derived summary

Yin Chengzong (Chinese: 殷承宗; pinyin: Yīn Chéngzōng, Hokkien: Un Seng Chong; born 1941) is a Chinese pianist and composer.

Born in Fujian, Yin began learning the piano at a very young age where he played both Western and Chinese compositions. From Fujian, he studied at Shanghai and Leningrad whilst receiving awards from international competitions. In 1963, he received praise from both Mao Zedong and his wife Jiang Qing which allowed him to play the piano during the Cultural Revolution, during which the piano was labelled as bourgeois. Jiang remained involved throughout Yin's career in the 1960s and early 1970s. His two most important pieces are a piano-accompanied version of The Legend of the Red Lantern and the Yellow River Piano Concerto, which he helped create with other Chinese musicians.

Life and career

Early life and education

Yin was born in 1941 on the "Piano Island" of Gulangyu Island in Xiamen, Fujian. At this time, Gulangyu was part of an International Settlement that was established in 1902, which allowed for Western and Chinese culture to interact with one another. As such, Yin was gradually influenced by Western music as a child. At 3-years old, Yin started playing the piano.

Editorial summary

“Yin Chengzong” enters the record as chinese composer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chengzong, Chinese and composer can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1941, 1963, 1902—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1941-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Chengzong, Chinese and composer.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Yin Chengzong” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chengzong, Chinese and composer provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q836707. VIAF identifies the subject as 26148830. The Library of Congress control number is n88072989. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1963 and 1902.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Yin Chengzong”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Yin Chengzong primary sources, Yin Chengzong archive and Chengzong research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Yin Chengzong”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Yin Chengzong” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.