Lin Zheng

Lin Zheng is a composer and zheng performer, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Music at the University of Auckland, under the supervision of Associate Professor Leonie Holmes and Professor Dean Sutcliffe. In addition, she is a member of the Composers Association of New Zealand and the Chinese Nationalities Orchestra Society, a zheng examiner and judge, and a council member of the Guangdong Provincial Nationalities Orchestra Society.

Lin began playing the zheng at the age of five, studying under the Chaozhou zheng master Tianhe Zhou. Afterwards, Lin studied with renowned zheng performers, such as Yi Cai, Guanying Huang, Associate Professor Weimin Chen, Professor Anhua Chen, and Associate Professor Chang Su. During her studies, she also received guidance from the renowned zheng performer and educator, Manqin Zhao. Upon ranking first in the entrance exam in 2008, Lin was accepted into the undergraduate program at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music, one of the most prestigious conservatories in China. In 2012, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in composition and composition technique theory. With her excellent academic and musical performance, she was again ranked first in both cultural and professional subjects, thereby earning her a national scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in music at the same university. Lin graduated in 2015 with a Master of Fine Arts and has received various professional awards, including gold and silver, for her compositions and performances within China.

Lin has been teaching the zheng for more than ten years and used to tutor at ACG Strathallan College, in Auckland. In an effort to cultivate her students’ musical literacy and promote traditional Chinese culture, she founded Zheng’s Music Studio in 2016 and Boya Guzheng, a zheng performance group in 2020. The Chinese Nationalities Orchestra Society has honoured Lin with the title of ‘Excellent Tutor’ every year since she founded her studio, and her students have achieved outstanding results in their examinations. Several of her students have won gold and silver awards at international contests and festivals, while Lin has received ‘Outstanding Teacher’ awards for her zheng instruction.

Owing to Lin’s contribution to and promotion of the zheng in New Zealand and overseas, she was featured in People’s Daily in 2020, and was also nominated for and received the Global Outstanding Woman Award at the 19th Outstanding Women and Mothers Awards.