He Ziyu. [File photo]

A Chinese teenager won first prize in an international violin competition in London, sina.com.cn reported Tueday.

He Ziyu,16, from Qingdao, Shandong province, won laurels in the Yehudi Menuhin Competition London 2016. He was the youngest player in the senior group.

He also won the opportunity to use a golden Stradivarius violin made in 1715 for a year. String instruments made by the celebrated 17th and 18th century Italian masters are considered to be the highest quality in the world.

The Yehudi Menuhin Competition is an international music contest for violinists under the age of 22, founded in 1983 by Yehudi Menuhin, a famous violinist and conductor.

He Ziyu is studying at the Mozarteum Salzburg.

His mentor, Paul Roczek praised He as "becoming a world class violinist".

Roczek even taught He four sessions a week though he usually only gave lessons to undergraduates.

"He'd practice in one day what took others practicing for a month," Roczek said. "He is the most gifted child I've ever seen in my five decades of music teaching. He has a talent to capture the features in the music and express it well."

He started learning violin at age 5 and has won many prizes.

Critics described He as one who "broke the awkward situation when Chinese violinists missed the championship so many times."

Violinists from over 40 countries and regions participated in the 11-day-long competition.

Many famous violinists have had won the competition, like Lyu Siqing, Julia Fischer and Tasmin Little.

By Liu Wei (chinadaily.com.cn)