The article is devoted to the musical and pedagogical system of the famous Chinese pianist, composer and teacher Zhao Xiaosheng. He was educated in the “cradle of Chinese pianists” – the Shanghai Conservatory under the representative of the first generation of Chinese teachers of the institution Ding Shangde. His teacher, in turn, studied performing skills with the Russian musician Boris Zakharov, head of the piano department at the conservatory. Zhao Xiaosheng is the creator of the composition system and the author of his own piano technique. And if the provisions of the first are covered in domestic musicological science, then the content and experience of understanding its pedagogical system have not yet received proper coverage. The purpose of this work is to identify the main pedagogical principles of Zhao Xiaosheng in the field of piano methodology. Based on his book “The Way of Playing the Piano”, the authors of the article reveal the meaning of the six main provisions. A connection is found between some of the foundations of Taoist philosophy, Qigong breathing practice and the content of the author’s methodological guidelines.