Yu-Peng Chen

Chen Yupeng (born January 15, 1984), also known by his stage name Chen Zhiyi, is a Chinese composer and music producer best known for writing the soundtrack of Genshin Impact, an open-world action role-playing video game by HoYoverse.

His work is known for its versatile style of integrating traditional Chinese musical instruments with Western orchestral arrangements.

Chen was born on January 15, 1984, in Changsha, Hunan.

His mother was a vocalist.

To raise Chen, she stopped her career.

His father majored in mathematics.

The first musical inspiration came to Chen at age six, when he watched the Japanese animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) by Hayao Miyazaki.

Though he did not understand the story, he was deeply moved by the soundtrack and "felt the power of music" for the first time.

During his childhood, he also discovered his musical talent as he was sensitive to pitch.

In 1996, at the age of twelve, Chen enrolled at Shenzhen Arts School and studied under clarinet educators Jiang Baocheng (姜宝成) and Tao Ran (陶然).

Tao Ran, a Clarinet associate professor at the school, had performed solo clarinet and chamber music concerts.

He received several awards for his excellent instruction and musicianship.

Tao, like Chen, also studied under Jiang Baocheng.

When Chen was 16, he learned basic theories of composition under Ju Zongze (居宗泽), a teacher and assistant lecturer at Shenzhen Arts School.

He taught music theory, solfeggio, etc.

In 2002, Chen permanently moved to Shanghai and was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with the Fu Chengxian Memorial Scholarship (傅成贤纪念奖学金).

He first majored in Clarinet, but Ju Zongze, who discovered Chen's strong interest in composition, suggested that he transfer to a Composition major.

Chen later majored in Music Design and Production in the Department of Music Engineering, which was established in 2003.

Around the same time, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music invited Japanese musician Tanimura Shinji to join the department as a resident professor.

When Chen attended Tanimura's master class in 2005, he noted that Tanimura's work combined Japanese folk music, oriental pentatonic melodies, and Western orchestral music.

The learning experience gave much inspiration, especially Tanimura's concepts of "music has no borders" and "spread the positive energy of love."

Shortly after that, Chen was one of the eight students from the department to join Tanimura for a concert performance at Expo 2005.

He was responsible for the arrangement and production of the musical works, and performed as a pianist.

It was also during that year, in November, when he won an award during a song activity organized by Tanimura and the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles (上海市文联组织) for the opening of the Yangshan Port and Donghai Bridge.

Other than Tanimura, Chen also studied under the tutelage of An Dong (安栋), Chen Qiangbin (陈强斌), Wu Yuebei (吴粤北), Hu Taoyuan (胡桃源), Xu Jianqiang (徐坚强), and Qin Shile (秦诗乐).

The different styles, composition philosophies, and approaches to music taught by the first three teachers greatly influenced Chen's work later in his career.

While he studied, he also assisted An Dong in producing film and television music.

In September 2006, Chen's work "GAMES OF FANTASIA" won the first prize at the annual concert of the Department of Music Engineering.

He also received three awards for the best creativity, teamwork, and popularity.

In the early 2010s, Chen collaborated with the accoladed composer Chan Kwong-wing to produce scores for veteran film directors.

Their score for Wong Jing's The Last Tycoon (2012) earned them a nomination for the "Best Original Film Score" at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards.

Chen established the Yupeng Music Studio in 2014, which had cooperative relations with many recording studios and music groups in Beijing and Shanghai, and produced works for companies, including Click Music Ltd., Tencent, and NetEase.

The duo would not win an award until their work for The Founding of an Army (2017), which earned the Golden Deer Award for the "Best Original Music Score" at the 14th Changchun Film Festival.

From 2019 to 2023, he was a music producer at HOYO-MiX, the in-house music studio of miHoYo, and led the music production of the game.

Chen was educated at Shenzhen Arts School and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and studied under the tutelage of experienced musicians who influenced his work later in his career.

While he studied in college, he was already involved in composing and producing film and television music.

Even before his career, his musical works won awards at various events.

They also produced the score for Andrew Lau's The Captain (2019), one of the all-time highest-grossing films in China.

Chen had scored several films by Raymond Yip, most being horror or thrillers.

"There is no doubt [that] my anticipation for the future actually manifested when I was a child. I remember that time, during solfeggio classes in art school, the teacher asked everyone what they wanted to become. At that time, I volunteered and stood up, saying that I wanted to become a top composer in China. I remember it was when I was in my teens in art school when I already had such an ambition. This should be my pursuit for the future; I must strive to be the best. I want to become the most famous composer in China. 毫无疑问，我对未来的憧憬，其实在我小时候就体现出来. 我记得那个时候，上视唱练耳课还是在艺校的时候，老师就问大家想做什么. 那个时候，我就自告奋勇站起来，我要做中国第一流的作曲家. 我记得那是我在艺校，十几岁的时候，我就已经有这样的一个抱负了. 这应该是我对未来的一个追求，我一定要做到最好. 我要做中国最有名的作曲家."