Chinese love to play piano, even if their locally made instruments keep hitting bum notes
- Country is the world’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of pianos, shipping about 350,000 a year, but has a reputation for producing low-quality models
- As living standards have improved across the country, pianos are no longer seen as luxury items
Playing the piano is becoming an increasingly popular pastime for Chinese people young and old, but while their passion is indubitable, the same cannot be said about the local manufacturers that make more of them than anywhere else in the world.
China opened its first piano factory in 1895 but it was not until the 1950s, after the founding of the People’s Republic, that state-controlled manufacturers began to spring up in major cities. Today, the country builds and sells about 350,000 models a year.
But despite its prolific output, China is not regarded as a maker of quality pianos.
According to Hong Kong pianist Gwendoline Cho-ning Kam, the “character” of a piano is determined by the craftsmanship of the people who make it, and when it comes to quality, China still has a long way to go.
“Pianos are about personal preference, but the ones made in China can’t compete on the world stage,” she said. “We rarely see them in international concert halls.”
Kam has been playing the piano for about 30 years and has tried out all sorts of brands, from locally made models like Pearl River and Yangtze River, to the best in the world from Germany’s Steinway and Italy’s Fazioli.
