Zi Qi grew up in a musical family. Her mother is a graduate of the Vocal Music Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Her grandmother taught singing, her uncle played the violin, and her grandfather played the saxophone in the orchestra. Under the influence of his family, Deng Ziqi has loved music and singing since he was a child.
Deng Ziqi began to try composing and writing lyrics when he was 5 years old. He participated in educational television performances at the age of 7, completed grade 8 piano at the age of 13, and co-produced a California red mooncake charity sale advertisement with Eason Chan.
Deng Ziqi attended Chinese Christian Union Primary School and was a member of the school’s poetry class. She attended True Light Girls' School in secondary school and also participated in gymnastics in her spare time. During high school, he continued to participate in various singing competitions and won 5 competition championships in one year.
In 2006, 14-year-old Deng Ziqi participated in the Spice It Up joint school singing competition and won the championship. She was invited by her manager Tan to sign a contract with Hummingbird Music. Among several employees, Deng Ziqi has been documenting his growth and communicating with fans on Weibo and other self-media since his debut. Two years later, he officially became a singer. In the same year, he served as a guest performer at the press conference of Westlife's Face to Face Asia Tour. In 2008, he enrolled in the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in acoustics. Due to the increasing workload, he gave up the acoustics course at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in the first half of 2009.