20 | Monday, December 24, 2018 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Stage set for growth as music business finds rhythm in China By CHEN NAN
[email protected] When Zong Xiaojun went to the United States to study as one of the first Chinese students in Miami University with a major in music business and entertainment industries in 1995, he met his pro fessor, Maurice Oberstein, who was also a record company execu tive then. Oberstein told Zong, who back then was his only student from China, that the future of music market lies in China. From left: Prominent scholars Michele Ferrero, Tian Chenshan, Roger T. Ames, Zhang Xiping, David Bartosch and Yang Xusheng look Surprised, Zong asked Oberstein back at SinoWestern cultural exchanges over the past decades at an academic dialogue on China’s 40 years of reform and opening why he thought that. His professor up. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY responded that in his experience of working as the managing director of PolyGram Music, which at the time was home to Cantopop stars such as Alan Tam and Hacken Lee, Zong Xiaojun speaks at the he was impressed by the vibrant Music Industry Forum 2018, music scene and the artists’ popu held in Beijing on Wednesday. A question larity across Asia. During his twoyear stint in the US, Zong — who learned to play 2017 was more than 58 billion the cello at age 5 with his musician yuan ($8.39 billion), an increase of parents and graduated from the 9.6 percent compared with 2016.