| Liu Shikun | |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-hans |
| Birth Date: | 8 March 1939 |
| Birth Place: | Tianjin[1] |
| Origin: | Beijing, Moscow |
| Occupation: | Pianist, composer |
| Instrument: | Piano |
| Years Active: | 1944–present |
Liu Shikun (; born March 8, 1939) is a Chinese pianist and composer.
He began his piano training at the age of three[2] and started publicly performing by the age of five. He won third prize and the Special Prize of the Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest in 1956 and was awarded a strand of Franz Liszt's hair. In 1958, he shared with Lev Vlassenko the second prize in the First Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.[3] [4]
Liu became one of China's top concert performers until 1966, when the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four attacked the country; Western music was banned and, along with thousands of other artists, Liu was arrested. He stayed in prison for eight years.[5] [3]
Liu studied at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory of Music.[4]