Kaixiao Liu: Failed China's Got Talent contestant to Auckland mystery death

From a failed China's Got Talent (中国达人秀) ) contestant to a religious leader with a dedicated following and a weatherboard family home in the Auckland seaside township of Orewa: Kaixiao Liu and his wife Lanyue Xiao have been convicted of the kidnapping and manslaughter of one of Liu's followers – 70-year-old Shulai Wang – whose body was found bound in tape and wrapped in rubbish bags, floating in Auckland's Gulf Harbour. Reporter Lucy Xia has delved into Liu's musical evolution, from romantic love songs to grandiose orchestral pieces. His music offers a glimpse into his world.

By Lucy Xia of RNZ

It was 2011 and Christchurch had just been rocked by earthquakes that claimed the lives of 185 people.

Half a world away, in China, a young man appeared on the popular television talent show China's Got Talent. He had a tearjerker story of losing his fiancée in Christchurch – his crooning love song called Moonlight Wedding was for her.

Blindfolded, he explained he could still see her in his mind's eye.

The 23-year-old was knocked out in the first elimination round.

A decade later, in July 2021, Liu was at a chandelier-lit Auckland wedding venue overlooking the sparkling Waitematā Harbour. He had hired dozens of classical musicians, some of whom were members of the Auckland Philharmonia, to play the music he had composed.

Conductor and disgraced former music teacher Peter Thomas waved his baton while Liu, beside him, was dressed in black, wearing sunglasses indoors, as he hummed into the microphone.

The video appears on a website, 'Universe Choir/ KL Music', that also included photos of musicians Liu hired and brief autobiographical information about himself.

"I travel to different destinations to visit various races, to do what I can to help anyone who needs help. I have written and recorded numerous songs like these. My music has no boundaries of languages or spaces."

Liu's music is titled with cosmic-themes, including I Miss You Across Galaxies, Dancing with Nebulas and A Kiss in a Spaceship.

'Underlying creepiness'

Classical musician Edward* said he got paid about $500 per day and spent about nine months between 2020 and 2021 intermittently going to Liu's recording sessions about twice a week, recording tracks for Liu's albums.

"There were at least 12 songs on every album, and we thought initially that he got AI to write his stuff … even back then there was this talk that he was sending audio clips and would send it off to a guy in LA, and he would transcribe it and send it through. A lot of the music was very hard to read at the time," he said.

Edward said Liu wouldn't tell the musicians his real name and went by "KL" which he said stood for "Kind Love".

He said for most sessions, Liu booked out a large floor in an Auckland CBD building and would have the musicians all mic'ed up and divided into separate rooms based on their instruments.

Edward said the recording equipment appeared expensive, and he estimated Liu would've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on gear and paying the musicians over months.

Meanwhile, it was clear to Edward that Liu wanted to keep his identity secret.

"He wore a [face] mask and he wore sunglasses and he wore gloves as well, he was very tidily dressed in a good suit, dress shirt and dress pants," he said.

He said he only saw Liu take off his face mask on one occasion, and that was how he later recognised the face of the man on trial over the death of Shulai Wang.

Edward said Liu never made it clear what the music was for and, at times, said strange things.

"I remember him saying at the very, very start that aliens were gonna come and pick everyone up at some stage, that was weird."

Edward said, at the time, Covid-19 restrictions meant there was no work or performance opportunities for musicians so playing for Liu was a good gig.

"People want to be employed and to have some work, [we] overlooked a lot of some of the underlying creepiness in a way, because it was work, it was stuff that we could do," he said.

'Out of touch with reality'

Another musician, Laura*, said Liu sometimes appeared frustrated that the musicians weren't more interested in his music.

"He [Liu] seemed very naive and sort of frustrated, like a frustrated artist who couldn't convince the population of his vision," she said.

Laura said she thought Liu was "out of touch with reality" and sometimes said that musicians would save the world.

She said they were asked to write endorsements for Liu's website, despite not ever knowing what the project was for.

Laura said Liu's music was repetitive and wasn't any good. Some of the recordings got uploaded online.

"One YouTube video had hundreds of thousands of views (of us playing), I thought that's impossible … I suspect there might have been some buying of followers and buying of views, very much like smoke and mirrors kind of thing," she said.

Laura said Liu "gave away money like water", and would sometimes get his "assistant" to distribute cash to the musicians.

"She was always referred to as his assistant, and he would treat her like an assistant … It was: 'Michelle, can you do this, Michelle get them this'. So yeah, that was weird."

Laura only learned that Michelle was Liu's wife, Lanyue Xiao, after seeing media coverage of the trial.

She said in July 2021, Liu booked out the Bruce Mason Centre for a recording session.

Liu had five different outfit changes and wore various pairs of sunglasses. He hummed into a mic while the orchestra played to empty seats, she recalled.

A filming crew recorded the session and Liu's performance.

"He was moving the mic like he was Elvis Presley," she said.

Music was also one of the few things heard in trial that offered some clues on how Liu may have come into contact with his followers.

A detective told the jury that one of the women who lived with Liu's family at their Orewa home told police that someone died in the house after falling, she didn't look after them well, and that it's not her friend's fault.

Senior Constable Nian Zhao asked the woman who these friends were.

"She said she met the people over the internet, over [a] website, kind of a music website, a song website, and she referred to the occupants of the house as friends," he told the jury.

However, it remains unclear how Wang from a village on Hainan Island connected with Liu.

During the trial, the jury heard that Wang, her youngest son, her grandson and her husband were family number 12 of at least 37 families devoted to Liu's teachings.