Love Your Neighbour As You Love Yourself

She is now one of the leading exponents of Chinese music in England. At the tender age of 12 she placed second in the National Chinese Youth Music Championships. She has toured internationally, performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and she has participated in the WOMAD Recording Week in Bath, Somerset.

Her name is Zi Lan, and she is a dear friend who I was able to reunite with on my recent trip to the UK!

In 1985/86 I worked for the Liverpool Education Authority as their Chinese Community Public Relations Officer, when Marlon was the Chairman of Liverpool’s Pagoda Community Centre. Zi Lan’s parents had emigrated to the UK five years earlier and had already become cornerstones of the Pagoda Community Centre, where they taught Chinese music and dance. It is here where I first met Zi Lan who had already created a name for herself, after winning the folk instrument solo trophy at Llangollen International Music Festival, at the age of 15.

I remember she spent hours practicing Guzhen (a Chinese plucked zither), with her father. I admired her talent and wanted to help her get ahead, so I shared her story during a presentation I made to a local Rotary Club. It was my hope that she could enroll in a recognized music school to boost her musical career. By God’s ordained timing, one of the Rotarians, Mr. Mulholland, offered to audition Zi Lan and was so impressed that he recommended Zi Lan to enroll at The Chetham School of Music, saying “I have never heard such beautiful Guzheng music before!”.  She was accepted into the Chetham School and was given a scholarship. Her life was changed by this amazing opportunity!

One day I asked Zi Lan how she was doing and she immediately burst into tears.  With tears rolling down her cheeks, she told me she was not able to master the English language and was behind in her study and class work. I immediately volunteered to go with Zi Lan to the Chetham School to request their help. An excellent volunteer language tutor was quickly procured and she improved in leaps and bounds.  She later went to the Royal Academy of Music after she graduated from the Chetham School.

In 2006 Zi Lan returned to her roots and started teaching Guzheng and other musical instruments to young people at the Pagoda Community Centre. Not only is she building on her late father’s legacy, but she is helping The Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra, the only Chinese Youth Orchestra in Europe, to continue building on it’s many successes.

Today, Liao Zi Lan is one of the leading exponents of Chinese music. When I reflect on how fortunate I was to help Zi Lan out so many years ago, I am filled with joy!  This is the privilege God offers all of us, if, we are willing to love our neighbours as we love ourselves?

Who knows how you might help alter the trajectory of a person’s life for the better, if you will extend a helping hand?