Mr. and Mrs. Yao have time to entertain: The owners of Girod, a small piano factory in Luoshe, a rural county in Huzhou municipality, west of Shanghai, have decided to stop production this summer. Since the beginning of 2024, orders have dwindled and stocks have piled up. The couple would rather sell them off – a few dozen black, white or wood-finish upright pianos, stored in a metal shed, awaiting better days. "[In 2023], it was already tough, but this year, sales are truly terrible. Our neighbor went out of business, like so many others in Luoshe." By their estimates, several dozen manufacturers have ceased operations.

Once a status symbol for middle-class families, making China the world’s largest piano market, the prestigious instrument has fallen out of favor, victim to the prevailing economic gloom. Since the end of the zero-Covid policy in early 2023, consumer spending has never really picked up amid the real estate crisis. Households have lost confidence in the future and are avoiding non-essential purchases. Other changes have particularly affected the piano: Following an education reform in 2021, talented young musicians no longer receive extra points for university admission.

At the beginning of the year, the state of China’s two leading manufacturers, Hailun and Pearl River, revealed the full extent of the crisis to the public. In the first quarter, the revenues of the two companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange plummeted by about 40% year-on-year and they posted losses. "We could see it was going badly, but it was a shock," said Deng Shurou, 27, who teaches piano in Shanghai. She left a private school a year ago to start her own business and doesn't regret it. Indeed, the chain of schools that employed her, Roland Music, went bankrupt at the end of July.

Since then, she has struggled to find students. From declining birth rates to the economic slowdown and school reform, she lists the negative factors but is especially keen to highlight social changes. "Since the end of the Covid period, families have been going on vacation or away for the weekend. That means less time for classes. Many children also drop out because they don't like it. Parents pay more attention to their children's feelings than they did for my generation," said the teacher. We met her in her small apartment in central Shanghai, where a Japanese-brand upright piano takes pride of place. She has tried her hand at other activities to make ends meet, such as selling jewelry from a stall outside a shopping mall, with little success.

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