Twenty-five years after Yundi Li won first prize at the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, Chinese pianists were again in the limelight in Warsaw. Two stood out in the 19th edition in October 2025, with Zitong Wang ultimately walking away with the third prize and Tianyou Lyu sharing fourth place with Japan’s Shiori Kuwahara.

Taking the long view, in claiming third prize Zitong Wang earned herself the same ranking as China’s Fou Ts’ong had achieved 70 years earlier, in the hotly contested 1955 edition. For many in 2025, Wang was a favourite – certainly a fresh talent, considering that both the first- and second-prize winners, Eric Lu and Kevin Chen, were already well-known quantities. Wang had previously (in 2023) won sixth prize at the Busoni Competition, but here she was in the spotlight of the pianistic world as never before.