China finds keys to Malaysian pianist's heart

KUALA LUMPUR - "Upon hearing the Yellow River Piano Concerto for the first time, I was deeply moved," Malaysian pianist Claudia Yang remembers vividly the scene after more than three decades.

"Looking back, I felt incredible. I was only 12 years old, but I could feel the blood was boiling inside me," she recalls.

Born into a Chinese-Malaysian family in Muar, a small town in Malaysia's southern Johor state, Yang began her piano studies at the age of 5 and her talent soon became apparent.