Piano tuner Lei Chunhua and the rise of Yichang's piano industry
2023-04-28 20:04:15
By Tan Maolin, Yichang International Communication Studio
In 2001, Lei Chunhua started working at Yichang Jinbao Music Instrument Company as a piano tuner.
Born in Nan'an, Fujian Province, Lei attended a piano tuner training course with Parsons Music Group, the parent of Jinbao, in 1998, while still in her teens. She has been involved with the piano ever since.
Lei Chunhua tunes a piano.
In 2001, Lei became a tuner at Yichang Jinbao Music Instrument, Parsons’ new fully owned subsidiary on the Yangtze. The year before, Parsons Music Group had been invited to invest in Yichang. And in 2001, Parsons spent HK$16 million building China’s largest piano production base in the city.
In her 25 years at Parsons, Lei has seen the Yichang piano industry take off.
The launch of the first generation of nine-foot grand pianos in 2009 saw the creation of the Yangtze piano brand.
Lei took part in tuning technique training courses in places such as Japan, Austria, Germany and Australia and received a National Senior Technician Piano Tuner Certificate in 2016.
In the same year, Yichang-made Yangtze pianos appeared at the 15th anniversary of the signing of a Good-Neighborliness Treaty between China and the Russian Federation. Lei took part in the piano tuning work.
In 2019, the Yangtze Piano was selected as the competition piano for the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition. It was the first time a Chinese piano brand had been on stage for a major international event and Lei was widely praised for her piano tuning skills.
Spanish pianist Leonel Morales Alonso plays a Yangtze piano.Wu Weiguo, Vice President of the Parsons Music Group Sales Department, said: “Over a third of our employees have been with us for more than 10 years. A piano has over 9,000 components so, if you want top quality, it has to be assembled by the most skilled workers.”
Lei said: "With fine art in our hands, we can create fine products. We work hard to manufacture world-class pianos, spreading the sound of Chinese pianos to the world.”
Lei said: "With fine art in our hands, we can create fine products. We work hard to manufacture world-class pianos, spreading the sound of Chinese pianos to the world.”
Parsons Music Group's piano production workshop in Yichang.The efforts of countless artisans have helped establish Yichang as the world's largest professional production factory for grand pianos, with products selling to more than 40 countries and regions. Each year, one out of every seven pianos made in the world is produced in Yichang. In 2014, Yichang was awarded the title of "Piano City " by the Chinese Musicians Association.
