Niu Niu is a pianist who was a child prodigy, taking up the piano at age three and giving his first performance at six. His birth name is Zhang Shengliang; Niu Niu is a nickname meaning Little Ox. Niu Niu's professional career began in 2006 when he performed at Wigmore Hall. In 2009, he became the youngest performer ever to appear at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Other career highlights include dubbing the piano performance of manga character Wei Pang in the Japanese NHK network's animated version of Piano no Mori in 2018 and 2019. Niu Niu's recording career has been as precocious as his performances. It began in 2007, when he recorded the album Niu Niu Plays Mozart, released the following year. In 2018, he issued a recital of works by Liszt, Chopin, Schubert, and Mendelssohn, and he returned with Beethoven: Fate & Hope in 2021.