World class pianist Li Yundi from the Chinese mainland is photographed by photojournalists (R) in his first outdoor performance along the harbour front in Hong Kong, 29 October 2006. ( AFP / SAMANTHA SIN)

Yale music school denies offering detained Chinese pianist Li Yundi a professor role

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 15, 2021 at 11:07
Updated on November 15, 2021 at 11:32
2 min read
By AFP Hong Kong

Posts circulating on social media claim Chinese concert pianist Li Yundi was offered a faculty position at Yale University's music faculty after he was detained in Beijing for allegedly hiring a sex worker. But the claim is false; Yale University said on October 31 it had made no such appointment.

"Li Yundi's mother announced her son will withdraw from the mainland music industry forever and leave his once-beloved motherland to seek survival in a foreign country," reads a simplified-Chinese caption tweet from October 30 shared more than 700 times.

Text in the screenshot purports to quote Li's mother saying: "The formidable opinions and moral judgement of the public have sent my son into the living hell. I think he will soon leave his once-beloved motherland and go to a foreign country to seek survival."

"The Yale School of Music has invited Li Yundi to be a tenured professor."

A screenshot of the misleading post taken on November 9, 2021

Li became a household name in China when in 2000, just two weeks after turning 18, that he received top honours at the 14th international Frederic Chopin piano competition in Warsaw, becoming the youngest contestant in history to claim the first prize.

The pianist -- often touted as a role model for young musicians -- was detained in Beijing on October 21 on suspicion of soliciting a woman, The New York Times reported, quoting Chinese state media.

Beijing police said in a Weibo post on October 21 that they had detained a 39-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman on suspicion of prostitution, later posting a photo of a piano alongside the words: "The world indeed has more than black and white two colours, but black and white should be distinguished clearly".

China's People's Daily newspaper reported: "Li Yundi was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute, black and white piano keys do not tolerate being 'yellow'".

The term "yellow" is Chinese slang for being obscene.

Li's detention comes amid China's broad crackdown on entertainment and celebrity culture.

Similar reports that Li was purported hired by Yale University circulated on Twitter, Weibo, Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili and Chinese question-and-answer website Zhihu.

'No such appointment'

However, the reports are false.

A keyword search on Google found an official statement from Robert Blocker, dean of Yale University's School of Music, rejecting the reports.

"Many people in the Yale School of Music and beyond have asked my office about an assertion being widely circulated in Chinese social media that pianist Yundi Li has been offered a position on YSM’s faculty. No such faculty appointment has been made," reads the statement from October 31.

AFP contacted Li and his team but has not received a reply.

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