Born in Wuhan, China to a musical family (her father was a prominent composer and well-known professor of brass instruments, and her mother was a chorus member of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra), Shia began studying piano and violin before age 5. She entered the Central Conservatory in Beijing at the age of 12. After several years of working in the rice fields during the cultural revolution, she joined the Central Ballet Company of China in beijing, and toured extensively in China and Europe. Coming to the US at the invitation of Kent State University (where she lectured and performed), she won the Josef Gingold Award at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival.
Awarded a full scholarship in 1981 with legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California, she played with the Denver Symphony Orchestra (assistant principal second violin), and Phoenix Symphony Orchestra (assistant concertmaster) before joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1989 at the invitation of Sir Georg Solti.
She has been an active chamber musician and teacher (one of her former students is a member of the Cleveland Orchestra) at Northwestern University and elsewhere.
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