Piano skills are the keys to success

"China's overall standard in piano playing has been on par with developed countries. We've been seeing Chinese contestants deliver excellent performance in influential international competitions," says Chu.

Huang Chan, a native of Changsha city, Central China's Hunan province, who obtained her master's degrees in both piano playing and music education at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar in Germany, gave up job opportunities in the country's most vibrant cities and chose to return to her hometown to work in 2008.

Quite a few of her students have been admitted to elite conservatories of music at home and abroad, and some secured good rankings in national competitions.

"The desire to learn piano doesn't only exist in first-tier cities. I wanted to dedicate myself to helping people in my hometown with an aim to improve the art," says Huang, who is also a member of the jury of the national finals of the 17th Shanghai International Youth Piano Competition.

The escalating strength in piano skills in the country can also be reflected by the fact that music pieces, especially those composed with Chinese aesthetics, have sprung up in recent years, and are gaining international popularity, industry insiders say.

"Composers have applied various modern techniques to produce piano pieces with strong Chinese flavor. Chinese piano pieces are improving significantly in both quantity and quality in the past few years," says Zhou Qin, deputy director of the piano department at the Capital Normal University in Beijing.