--- title: Vladimir Putin Plays Soviet Songs on Piano in China description: Russian President Vladimir Putin showed an artistic side on Sunday by playing two Soviet-era tunes on a piano in Beijing, China canonical: https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-15T12:35:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:55:05.195Z article:section: World og:title: Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China og:description: He had some time before meeting China's President og:url: https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d505cb0ccfec109/6988cd3abc6cfc7b6b3e1576/putin-piano-fb.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1050 og:image:alt: China New Silk Road og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China twitter:description: He had some time before meeting China's President twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d505cb0ccfec109/6988cd3abc6cfc7b6b3e1576/putin-piano-fb.jpg?branch=production ---  # Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 15, 2017 12:35 PM CUT  Russian President Vladimir Putin plays piano before his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, on May 14, 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin plays piano before his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, on May 14, 2017.Alexei Nikolsky—AP by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 15, 2017 12:35 PM CUT Russian President [Vladimir Putin](http://time.com/4775498/donald-trump-unpopular-france-vladimir-putin/ "undefined"), known for his displays of [sporting prowess](http://time.com/3950710/putin-yoga-modi-russia-india/ "undefined"), showed an artistic side on Sunday by playing two Soviet-era tunes on a piano during a visit to China. Putin, who was in Beijing for the [One Belt, One Road](http://time.com/4457044/xi-jinping-one-belt-one-road-obor-south-china-sea-economic-trade-business/ "undefined") conference, sat down at the baby grand piano while waiting to meet China’s President Xi Jinping at the state _Diaoyutai_ residence. According to [Associated Press](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-14/putin-sits-down-at-piano-in-china-plays-soviet-songs "undefined"), the 64-year-old played _Evening Song_ by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and _Moscow Windows_ by Tikhon Khrennikov, tunes that were respectively considered unofficial anthems for Leningrad (now known as St. Petersburg) and Moscow. The seemingly casual performance was captured by a cameraman and was widely circulated on [Russian media outlets](https://www.rt.com/viral/388316-putin-plays-piano-china/ "undefined"). This is not the first time the Russian leader has flaunted his musical skills. Putin performed Fats Domino’s _Blueberry Hills_ at a charity concert in 2010, which was attended by actors Sharon Stone, Kevin Costner and Gérard Depardieu. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/"},"headline":"Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China","datePublished":"2017-05-15T12:35:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:55:05.195Z","description":"He had some time before meeting China's President","url":"https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/","keywords":["Vladimir Putin","China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d505cb0ccfec109/6988cd3abc6cfc7b6b3e1576/putin-piano-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d505cb0ccfec109/6988cd3abc6cfc7b6b3e1576/putin-piano-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"China New Silk Road","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin plays piano before his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, on May 14, 2017.","creditText":"Alexei Nikolsky—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/vladimir-putin/","name":"Vladimir Putin"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4778796/putin-plays-piano-china/","name":"Vladimir Putin Plays the Piano While Visiting China"}}]}] ```