‘Life changing’: Hong Kong teen flies high under star violinist’s mentorship

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 Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Li Ching-po, age 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.

In a social media post on Sunday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said he was proud of Li’s progress since their first meeting three years ago.

“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,” said Yao, a Juilliard-trained violin virtuoso who founded the Hong Kong String Orchestra.

Li was among 2,800 local Form One to Three students enrolled under the government’s Strive and Rise programme in 2022. Participants are then assigned mentors and receive HK$10,000 (US$1,278) each.