Yichang, the City of Pianos

How did Yichang, little-known in the history of piano music, earn this title?

 

China has been groping its way toward making pianos for almost 100 years. 
 

But the pace of progress accelerated when Wu Tianyan and Wu Yaling, co-founders and co-presidents of Hong Kong Parsons Music Group, set up a factory in Yichang in 2000. The siblings wanted to build a Chinese piano brand with its own intellectual property. Their factory has gone on to become the largest piano production base in China.

 

In 2009, the Yangtze River Piano was the first registered piano trademark to use Chinese characters: 长江 (cháng jiāng). Designed and produced in Yichang, it was China's first brand with independent intellectual property rights in piano production. The base now produces electric pianos, grand pianos and upright pianos, meeting a range of needs stretching from family use and teaching to concert performance.

 

In June 2019, the Yangtze River Piano was used in the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the first time a Chinese piano had been used in the competition’s 61-year history. "The Yangtze River Piano, representing Made-in-China pianos, has reached the top on the world's highest art stage," said Wu Yaling, co-president of Parsons Music Group. “This is a dream come true.”

 

Over more than 20 years, Yichang has developed its manufacturing technology and its intellectual property rights. The grand piano production base, upright piano production base, and piano parts production base in Yichang can produce one piano every minute. Each year the city produces 70,000 upright and grand pianos. Pianos made in Yichang are sold to more than 40 countries and regions around the world. One out of every seven new pianos in the world is made in Yichang.

 

Wu Tianyan said: “A city of pianos implies a cultural atmosphere where pianos and music are loved and respected. This is the soul of Yichang, the City of Pianos." 

 

To cultivate Yichang public's love for piano, the city has held the Yangtze River Piano Music Festival every year since 2011, inviting hundreds of Chinese and foreign musicians to perform on stage, and thousands of well-known musicians to attend.

 

Yichang has also organized activities such as "piano in the community" and "piano on campus". Famous Chinese pianists like Liu Shikun, Xie Zhebang, Shi Shucheng, Hong Chang and Yuan Jie have visited schools and communities in Yichang to give piano classes and promote music culture.

 

Nowadays, all primary schools, secondary schools and universities in the city offer their students piano lessons. There are more than 20,000 young piano students and a total "piano population" of more than 100,000 in the city.

Music makes people's lives more beautiful, and piano music has brought Yichang closer to the world.