The Chinese saw the first piano factory in 1875 in Shanghai,from then on,some small piano factories appeared at Shanghai. But they were either foreign factories,or small assembly factories.There was no piano--making factory run by Chinese before 1949. On June 1,1949, the New China Musical Instrument Factory (former of the Hsinghai Co.) was established in Beijing and three years later(1952,not 1950),the first upright piano was made there. The "Culture Revolution" you mentioned began in 1966. Hsinghai Co. (the word"Hsinghai" is also spelled as "Xinghai",,just like we has changed "Peking" to "Beijing") now make "Xinghai" and "Otto Meister" pianos. Besides piano,Xinghai Co. also make many other musical instruments. Thank you! Baoli Liu China -----Original Message----- Youy live in China, I don't but are you sure of what you are saying. I was under the impression that Shanghai was where pianos were made first in China. I am not sure what year that was but it was before the cultural revolution. Actually it is a tossup who made the first pianos in your neck of the woods. Was it China or Japan. The old Hsinghai Piano was and is a piano that I will recommend (in fact I have one at the moment) over many of the newer Chinese pianos. Sure the tone is not great, but it is still a solid playable piano which is much more than I can say for many pianos from Canton. Please, why do you call Beijing by the old name of Peking ? Tony Caught caute@accessnt.com.au
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