HANGZHOU, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A few decades ago, no one in Luoshe, a farming town in east China's Zhejiang Province, could have imagined that they would have such a strong connection to the piano.
Now, there are more than 90 piano manufacturing and accessory enterprises in Luoshe, with an annual output of more than 50,000 pianos. It is believed that one out of every seven pianos made in China are produced by farmers in the town, which is dubbed as the "land of pianos."
Back in 1984, Wang Huilin, then the director of a local glass factory, saw people lining up on the street to buy pianos during a visit to Shanghai.
"Why don't we make our own pianos?" Wang, who had previously worked as a carpenter, thought to himself.
Soon after that, he hired four piano technicians from Shanghai and set up China's fifth piano factory in Luoshe.
Making a piano, which is composed of more than 8,000 parts and requires over 300 procedures, was no simple task for the farmers at the factory, even though many of them were skilled carpenters.
They did not produce their first upright piano until October of the following year, marking the beginning of the piano industry in Luoshe.
When the market economy was taking shape in China in the 1990s, many started their own piano-making businesses in the town.
Around 2000, the enterprises producing piano parts, including hammers, strings, keyboards and soundboards, came into being around Luoshe as the piano industry gradually matured.
Nowadays, local farmers are proud that they have been able to make pianos in the town entirely on their own. Among the 18,000 residents, more than 3,000 are working in the piano industry.
Lu Jiayi, one of the youngest in the industry and whose father was also in the piano business in Luoshe, decided to return to his hometown and founded a start-up company that makes piano accessories after studying outside the town.
More and more local residents have earned a fortune by making pianos while the Luoshe-made pianos have also started their journey to the global market with the increase of production and the optimization of quality.
In 2011, Zhejiang Yueyun Piano Co., Ltd., a local company, cooperated with K.Clara from Austria, a world-famous piano brand, to begin producing high-end pianos. Last year, it also partnered with Shanghai Piano Co., Ltd. to establish Shanghai Strauss Piano Co., Ltd.
"Now we can not only make pianos of world-class quality, but also provide customers with considerate after-sales services and lifetime warranties," said Zhang Jialong, general manager of Yueyun.
At present, boasting well-known piano brands such as K.Clara, Wagner and Strauss, Luoshe also exports its pianos to Europe and Southeast Asia.
Lu said he would introduce digital management to his company -- such as recording the position information of the pianos in their production and sales process via QR codes, which will make the products more competitive in the market.
"I hope our pianos can earn a better reputation on the world stage," said Lu. Enditem
