practicing the performing arts. When she was 7 years old, her family moved to Liuzhou in Guangxi, and at the age of 14, she moved to Beijing and started to work for the China National Song & Dance Ensemble. As a young unit member her education in the performing arts continued, and included dancing, singing, playing instruments, choreography, stage design, and lighting. The unit traveled all over the country, often doing several live performances in one day. She finished her education at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. Career 1986–1987: Breakthrough and National Qualification In 1986, Wei won the National Young Singers contest on Chinese television with the song Wanna Take One More Chance to Look at You. In 1987, she won the 24th Sopot International Music Festival in Poland as China's first representative to an international pop competition. In 1986 at the age of she was awarded a "2nd Level National Performer Professional Qualification Certificate" by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China. A year after, the ministry awarded her with a "1st Level National Performer Professional Qualification Certificate", the highest professional qualification of her field in China, equal to a Professional Doctorate, and which enabled her to teach at professor level in music academies in China. 1988–1992: Dedication of Love and Rise to Stardom In 1988, Wei sang the theme song for China Central Television's New Year's Gala, Gathering of the Year of the Dragon. In 1989, her rendition of the Chinese song Dedication of Love - a performance credited with truly starting her career– became a national hit in China, and she became a symbol for charity and fund-raising activities as her performance had raised enough funds to help a rural migrant worker from Anhui to recover from spinal surgery. In the same year, her song Today is Your Birthday won the Gold Medal at the Jian Brand Cup and Beijing Radio Song Competition, and has since been used as a theme song to celebrate China's National Day. In 1990, her new single Asian Mighty Winds was selected as the theme of the 1990 Asian Games, and she performed it alongside Chinese singer Liu Huan. The song quickly became another national hit, and Wei was dubbed the "Queen of Sports" by the Provincial Government of Guangxi, Liuzhou. That same year, she starred in the film The Story of A Songstress alongside Chinese