Shen Yingbiao is a xiao player. Although he had strong interests in musical instruments from childhood, it is the xiao that has been the most important part of his life. 

Not long after Shen was first attracted (吸引) to the instrument, he decided to learn it. In the 1990s, when Internet was not widespread in China, learning a less popular instrument was not an easy task because there were few teachers. 

Besides teaching himself and listening to tapes to compare and improve, Shen stepped on trips to visit those who gave fascinating performances he heard on tapes, and received tutoring (指导) from masters in this area. 

Since he had to study at school and then work to support himself, he could only undertake such trips in his spare time. "It was very tiring. Without high-speed trains, I had to take a train for more than 20 hours to Beijing, or other places, to visit people. But I was resolute to take this road. I wanted to improve my skills and learn more," says Shen.

While learning the instrument, Shen was increasingly fascinated by the rich cultural meanings in the xiao. According to him, a scene from a TV series of a literate (有文化的) person piping (吹奏) the xiao in the moonlight, full of elegance (优雅), poetry and romance, has been kept in his heart since childhood. And that reflects the close relationship between this instrument and the literate in times gone by. 

In ancient China, bamboo symbolized honesty, modesty (谦虚) and a spirit of trying to make progress. As a result, many liked the plant and used it to refer to their pursuits (追求) in poems. Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet Su Shi once wrote, "Better to eat without meat than live without bamboo", suggesting the importance of bamboo in their hearts.

Therefore, the xiao, made of bamboo, was much more than an instrument, but something they often held in hands or put on walls to remind themselves of their pursuits, and they sometimes used the xiao to refer to themselves in poems as well, according to Shen. 

"Since the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the xiao was often used in gatherings and meetings of the educated and literate, just like the guqin. It was so popular then that if one was not able to perform it, they were regarded as old-fashioned," says Shen.

During his learning process, Shen summarized his experience, which paved (铺平) the way for his later teaching. In 2000, with the growth of his fame, he was invited to teach dongxiao, a kind of xiao popular in the Jiangnan area of China, at an art school in Hangzhou. A year later, he set up the Xixi Xiao Society with his students to better promote (推广) the instrument.