Originally named Na Risong, San Bao comes from the beautiful Inner Mongolian prairie. His mother won the respect of the Mongolian and Han peoples for her epic work "Ga Da Mei Lin". Born into a family of musicians, he started playing the violin at the age of four and the piano at the age of eleven. During the 1980s, he attended the renowned Central Music Conservatory in order to study conducting.
San Bao was seemingly born for music and the prairie is the niche of his soul. Each of his musical scores conveys the prairie's characteristics of constringency, quietness, fortitude and lenience, all details found in San Bao's music.
The epic dance-drama "Searching for Shangri-la" has been a major hit around China since it debuted earlier this year. It has brought fame to the lead dancer and choreographer Yang Liping, but the credit for its success must also go to the celebrated composer San Bao, whose rhythmic compositions accompany the exciting dance.
36-year-old San Bao is a prolific composer whose catalogue numbers more than a thousand musical works! Most of his music was written for TV serials and films.
Before becoming a freelance musician in 1997, San Bao worked for a number of symphony orchestras, including orchestras inWuhan,Hubei Province,GuangxiZhuang Autonomous Region as well as the famous Central Ballet Symphony Orchestra and theChina National Symphony Orchestra.
San Bao writes in a wide range of styles, and his works are always unpredictable. Sometimes classical, other times folk or pop, there are many different influences in his compositions. For instance, an electronic piece named "Idiot" (or "The Idiot",) is the theme song for Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster "Big Shot's Funeral". The film was one of the acclaimed director's most successful comedies and starred Kiefer Sutherland alongside the mainland's most famous male actor, Ge You. To top of the list of stars, the theme song was sung by Hong Kongsinger Faye Wong.