Pianists from Japan and China Win Cliburn Award

Two pianists, one from Japan and one from China, have won gold medals at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Sunday. The competition is named after Van Cliburn, an accomplished pianist in Fort Worth, Texas. The two pianists made history as the first gold medalists from any Asian Country.

Japan's Nobuyuki Tsujii, 20, China's Haochen Zhang, 19, shared the position of first place. This is only the second time this has been done in the competition's 47-year existence. Also making history is the fact that Tsujii is blind.

According to The Associated Press, when Tsujii was announced as a winner, his translator escorted him to the stage and Tsujii clutched the Cliburn award with happiness as the crowd gave him a standing ovation and cheered him on.

In recent years, there has been an increase of Asian pianists coming to compete in the competition. In 2005, one third of competitors were from Asian countries.