Xiao Youmei

Also known as Zi Sihe

Xiao Youmei, styled Sihe, was born in Xiangshan, Guangdong, in 1884. He studied music and education in Japan, then from 1912 at the Leipzig Conservatory and Leipzig University, earning a doctorate in 1919. Back home he taught music and wrote harmonium and piano textbooks. In 1927, with Cai Yuanpei's backing, he founded the National Conservatory of Music in Shanghai, later the National Music School, which he led as president. He wrote more than a hundred songs, collected in Jinyue Chuji and Xinyue Chuji, as well as Qingyun Ge and several university anthems, and published over fifty papers on music. He died in Shanghai on 31 December 1940.