San Francisco's Chinatown was the first such enclave in the United States, and today, nearly a quarter of the city's residents identify as having Chinese ancestry. It's impossible to imagine a San Francisco without that diaspora, and SFCM is expanding its educational partnerships in China, most recently with SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. 

The first five Shanghai exchange students with (then) Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1981.

Then-SF Mayor Dianne Feinstein signed the first Sister City agreement in the U.S. with Shanghai, China's most populous city, in early 1980, a little over a year after President Jimmy Carter established formal diplomatic relations with the country. In 1981, the Conservatory welcomed five students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as part of a musical exchange program, with then-SFCM President Milton Salkind personally picking the musicians up at the airport in his station wagon. (The so-called "Shanghai Five" reunited at SFCM in 2018; pianist Paner Ying recalled her first impression of SF was the smell of doughnuts and coffee in the air.)

The Shanghai Five in 2018, with SFCM Presidential Alumni Council Chair Gary Rust and President David Stull.

SFCM remains committed to strengthening musical ties across China, and has for several years been building partnerships with the Central Conservatory and China Conservatory—the latter primarily focused on traditional Chinese music—in Beijing, as well as the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou City. SFCM was the first Western conservatory to open a partnership with the Xinghai Conservatory: SFCM Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs Jonas Wright (left) traveled to China to formalize that relationship in 2019; he did the same in 2024 with the Central Conservatory.

In April 2026, SFCM President David Stull traveled to Shanghai with Mayor Lurie (Lurie's first trip abroad as mayor) as part of a delegation that reaffirmed the sister-city relationship. There, memorandums of understanding were signed not only between the cities' music conservatories but also between the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and the California Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Opera House and the San Francisco Opera. 

From left: SFCM President David Stull, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie, and representatives from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music ( Li Junfeng/chinadaily.com).

"We're looking forward to an exchange of students and exchange of faculty, taking the music of both cultures and bringing them back and forth to both countries," Stull said. "It really is about the music for us, and it brings us together in the most powerful way and the most beautiful way."

Wright has had an active hand in shaping the scope of the Conservatory's presence in China, working closely with the Chinese Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in SF to—for just one example—bring musicians from the Central Conservatory to SFCM in September 2024 for a performance. 

Musicians from the Central Conservatory of Music perform in SFCM's Bowes Center.

Wright highlighted 2026 Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) graduate Chong Li as an example of these partnered institutions in action. Li arrived at SFCM from Xingha, and was elected by the postgraduate class of 2026 as their Commencement speaker—her first-ever public speech in English.

Chong Li.

"We come from all over the world, with different languages, cultural backgrounds, life experiences and artistic understandings," Li said. "Here, we meet, learn, collaborate and inspire each other. In this process, we communicate in a special way: an expression that transcends any language, and it is called music."

Learn more about SFCM's resources for international students.