BEIJING // In a quiet corner on the fourth floor of a shopping mall, a young woman sits in a booth and plays Johann Sebastian Bach on a shiny black piano.
Chu Ziyu's fingers glide across the keys with practised ease and the delicate tune offers a stark contrast to the bustle of shoppers.
"I practise on my own for six hours a day, five days a week," says the 18-year-old, who moved to Beijing with her parents this year from northern China's Heilongjiang province to take lessons from an accomplished tutor.
Ms Chu practises diligently for good reason. Next year she hopes to secure one of the dozen or so places to study piano at Tianjin Conservatory of Music, but she will be competing against an estimated 2,000 others. Her regular schoolwork is relegated to the evenings.
"The professor teaching me said it's very difficult to get into the [Beijing] Central Conservatory of Music and I started quite late, when I was 12. And for the past six years I haven't got much professional training," she says.
The piano, once despised for being "bourgeois", is now massive in China. State media say that as many as 50 million are learning it, putting traditional Chinese instruments like the seven-stringed guqin in the shade.
The aspirational middle class is keen to enjoy a "high taste" hobby, says Liu Donggen, a staff member at Crazy Piano, which sells pianos and leases piano booths. "They want to emulate that," he says. "They want to become part of that community."
But for many youngsters, the piano involves acute pressure, mirroring the situation in China as a whole, where rising wealth brings increased competition and expectations.
Parents and commentators believe parents are too involved, emulating the forceful approach the Chinese-American academic Amy Chua described in her memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Ms Chua's obsessive attention to her two daughters' learning of the piano and the violin sparked controversy in international media with analysts and other parents alternately attacking or praising her methods.
"I do believe there are parents who push their children too hard. The tiger mother story is real," says Pan Rongrong, 45, whose daughter Xiang Hanzhi, 11, has been learning the piano since she was four. Speaking outside a piano school just after her daughter's lesson finished, Ms Pan insists, however, that her child is just playing for fun and does not have to practise for more than one hour per evening.
In China, parents are inspired by superstar pianists such as Lang Lang. His image is often seen on billboards and last year he performed at the White House for the US president, Barack Obama, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.
Tiger mothers, hoping the piano becomes more than a hobby for their children, start them young. One Beijing-based former tutor, who asked not to be named, says one mother demanded she give lessons to a two-year-old boy, before it became apparent after two sessions that he was too young to concentrate.
"I heard later than when he was four he started to learn the piano with another teacher, and he plays very well. Two is not a good age," she says.
At the Beijing New World Centre branch of the Verdi and Jiang Jie piano school, where Chu Ziyu practises, the evening sees each of the 27 practice booths occupied by a child and a tutor. It is piano teaching on an industrial scale.
Lessons with a top tutor such as a professor at a Beijing conservatory can cost 450 yuan (Dh262) per hour. Yet there is no shortage of takers. Across its 18 branches in the capital, the school claims to have 10,000 pupils.
The piano's popularity has created a bonanza for Chinese manufacturers, which produce pianos ranging in price from about 16,800 yuan (Dh9,780) for a basic upright to 58,000 yuan (Dh34,000) for a sparkling white grand piano.
The Pearl River Piano Group in southern China's Guangdong province claims to be the world's largest piano manufacturer. Last year the company produced 115,000 instruments and this year the figure is expected to reach 135,000, says Kong Zhenhui, a spokesman for the company.
"In China, many parents think becoming an artist is the way to succeed, so more and more children are learning the piano," he says.
Succeeding as a concert pianist is an ambition too far even for Ms Chu. She hopes to become a piano teacher or a professor in a music conservatory, assuming she wins a place in Tianjin.
If she does not gain a place, she says she will continue to play for the simple joy it gives her - something many of China's hard-pressed young piano learners may miss out on.
"I feel I am naturally connected to the piano," she says. "When I feel down, the piano is the best company. I can pour my feelings into it."
dbardsley@thenational.ae
Dubai Women's Tour teams
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Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
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Cogeas Mettler Look
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Hitec Products – Birk Sport
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Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
HEADLINE HERE
- I would recommend writing out the text in the body
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The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Need to know
The flights: Flydubai flies from Dubai to Kilimanjaro airport via Dar es Salaam from Dh1,619 return including taxes. The trip takes 8 hours.
The trek: Make sure that whatever tour company you select to climb Kilimanjaro, that it is a reputable one. The way to climb successfully would be with experienced guides and porters, from a company committed to quality, safety and an ethical approach to the mountain and its staff. Sonia Nazareth booked a VIP package through Safari Africa. The tour works out to $4,775 (Dh17,538) per person, based on a 4-person booking scheme, for 9 nights on the mountain (including one night before and after the trek at Arusha). The price includes all meals, a head guide, an assistant guide for every 2 trekkers, porters to carry the luggage, a cook and kitchen staff, a dining and mess tent, a sleeping tent set up for 2 persons, a chemical toilet and park entrance fees. The tiny ration of heated water provided for our bath in our makeshift private bathroom stall was the greatest luxury. A standard package, also based on a 4-person booking, works out to $3,050 (Dh11,202) per person.
When to go: You can climb Kili at any time of year, but the best months to ascend are January-February and September-October. Also good are July and August, if you’re tolerant of the colder weather that winter brings.
Do not underestimate the importance of kit. Even if you’re travelling at a relatively pleasant time, be geared up for the cold and the rain.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Company%20profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
6.30pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Final Song, Christophe Soumillon (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer).
7.05pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m
Winner Almanaara, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
7.40pm Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Grand Argentier, Brett Doyle, Doug Watson.
8.15pm Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Major Partnership, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
8.50pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Gladiator King, Mickael Barzalona, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
Winner Universal Order, Richard Mullen, David Simcock.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Islamic%20Architecture%3A%20A%20World%20History
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eric%20Broug%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thames%20%26amp%3B%20Hudson%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20336%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20September%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Racecard
2pm Handicap Dh 90,000 1,800m
2.30pm Handicap Dh120,000 1,950m
3pm Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
3.30pm Jebel Ali Classic Conditions Dh300,000 1,400m
4pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.30pm Conditions Dh250,000 1,400m
5pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
5.30pm Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m
The National selections:
2pm Arch Gold
2.30pm Conclusion
3pm Al Battar
3.30pm Golden Jaguar
4pm Al Motayar
4.30pm Tapi Sioux
5pm Leadership
5.30pm Dahawi
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The%20specs
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