# Ten Years of the Shanghai Musical Instrument Exhibition: A Look at the Rise and Fall of the Musical Instrument Industry “It used to take more than a whole day to see everything at the music fair. Now I can get through the entire show in just over two hours.” A music store owner from Zhangjiagang wrote this after visiting Shanghai's Music China exhibition in late October 2026. She added: the bustle was real, but so was the quiet. Held in Shanghai for four days every October, Music China is Asia's largest musical instrument exhibition. It is also an “annual checkup” for China's instrument manufacturers, music stores, training schools, and music teachers. What can a decade of figures from the exhibition tell us about what has happened to the music education industry? ## A Decade of Data: Exhibitor Numbers Down 30%, Piano Sales in the Doldrums Music China does not publish an overall transaction value. Instead, its annual headline figures cover exhibitors, visitors, and exhibition space. Put nearly ten years of these figures side by side, and the industry's ups and downs become clear. From 2016 to 2019, the trajectory was upward: exhibitors increased from 1,909 to 2,414, and the number of halls expanded from 10 to 13. After 2017, an entire hall was also dedicated to music education. After the exhibition did not take place in 2021 or 2022, it returned in 2023. The anticipated surge in pent-up demand did not materialize. Exhibitor numbers recovered only to a little over 1,800, then continued to shrink: 1,693 in 2025 and, according to the official website, 1,576 in 2026. That was 838 fewer than the 2019 peak—a decline of more than one-third. Visitor numbers also fell. In 2023, attendance returned to 122,000, matching 2019. It then declined over the following two years to 119,000 and 114,000. According to the account cited in this article, a representative of the UK's musical instrument industry association visited the 2026 show and put it bluntly in an internal report: both footfall and the exhibitor lineup were smaller. Major Chinese distributors reportedly said in private that overseas brands' sales in China had fallen by 40% to 70% year on year. The exhibition reflects a retreat in the traditional piano and music tuition sectors. The figures cited in this article paint the following picture: - Monitoring data attributed to the China Musical Instrument Association show that annual piano sales in China fell from 356,000 in 2018 to 128,000 in 2023, dropping below 100,000 in 2024. - In a 2023 sample of 500 institutions reported by *Qinhang Jingying Bao*, a publication for music store operators, nearly 40% opted to move into another line of business. Figures attributed to the Shanghai Musicians Association also show that piano examination entries in 2023 were nearly 30% lower than in 2021. A roughly 70% fall in piano sales in six years. At the time of writing in November 2026, these were the latest publicly accessible national sales and examination figures the author had found. The two listed piano manufacturers had already released financial reports covering 2026, and the decline had continued. The article cites these figures: - Industry leader Pearl River Piano sold 156,100 pianos in 2019 and 37,700 in 2024. In 2025, sales fell to just 23,200, down another 38.6% in a year. Production was cut even more sharply, to only 12,600 pianos, a year-on-year decline of nearly 60%. Its full-year loss was RMB 374 million. - Hailun Piano sold 6,922 traditional pianos in 2025, down 33.24% year on year. In the first half of 2026, it sold just 2,567. - Both companies remained in the red over the first three quarters of 2026: Pearl River Piano lost RMB 192 million, and Hailun Piano lost RMB 75.82 million. The golden age sustained by children preparing for graded instrument examinations has passed. ## The Organizers Change Direction: From Focusing on Young Learners to Inviting Universities for Older Adults as Buyer Delegations Exhibition organizers are particularly sensitive to changing market conditions. Who they sell booths to, what their forums discuss, and what their publicity emphasizes all involve decisions with real money at stake. From 2017 to 2019, “children” was a keyword in official press releases. The title of the 2019 post-show report explicitly referred to growing demand for music education. The most popular on-site sessions were dealer training courses for music store owners. The logic was simple: parents were willing to spend on their children; children learning instruments and taking graded examinations needed instruments and lessons. The whole supply chain revolved around young learners. By 2025 and 2026, the organizers' priorities had shifted to music-based wellness, cultural tourism, and the silver economy—the market serving older adults. In 2025, the exhibition introduced a dedicated zone themed around music and the future of older adults. Its education forum discussed standardized certification for older-adult music education for the first time. Singing bowls, gongs, and tuning forks, accompanied by workshops, also gave music-based wellness a section of its own. In 2026, the organizers went further, partnering with the Shanghai association for eldercare services and the senior industry to bring eldercare institutions, open universities, and universities for older adults into the exhibition as buyer delegations. Industry visitors noticed the change too. One wrote after visiting: “Electronic instruments are very popular with older adults, and there are plenty of gray-haired visitors trying out classical pianos and violins as well.” Even the piano halls had booths selling health-monitoring watches. One exhibitor admitted that running a music store had become difficult, but they were reluctant to close and hoped the watches would bring in extra revenue: “In the era of the silver economy, this represents the direction of the future.” There are fewer children and more retirees with money and time to spare. Another especially noticeable development in 2026 was the shift toward electronic instruments. As acoustic piano business slowed, a different instrument took center stage in the piano halls. A piano teacher who had attended the exhibition for eight years said: “The halls used to be full of acoustic pianos. Now digital pianos dominate.” Many high-end acoustic piano brands that had exhibited in previous years were absent in 2026. ## What Comes Next: Four Predictions 1. Learning an instrument will become a choice again, rather than a default for children. Over the past decade, piano lessons became almost standard for urban Chinese families, driven by graded examinations, school admissions, and comparisons with other families. All three motivations are now weakening. Those who remain will be children who truly want to learn and parents who recognize the value of music. Recruiting students through anxiety about graded examinations has run its course. Schools will need to retain families by showing that children genuinely enjoy learning and are making progress. 2. Adults and older learners will move from a sideline to one of the main markets. An official think tank forecast cited in this article projects that China's silver economy will grow from about RMB 7 trillion in 2024 to RMB 30 trillion by 2035. The exhibition has already invited universities for older adults as buyer delegations. These learners pay for themselves and make their own decisions. They are not pursuing graded examinations; they want social connections and care more about being able to play a complete song relatively quickly. 3. Instruments will become lighter, cheaper, and more electronic. The figures cited in this article show digital piano sales in China rising from 272,000 in 2015 to 564,300 in 2022. In 2025, total revenue in China's musical instrument industry was approximately RMB 26.956 billion, down 4.5% year on year, while the electric and electronic instrument segment continued to grow. Piano manufacturers' own figures make the shift more tangible. Pearl River Piano sold 26,500 digital pianos in 2025, already exceeding its 23,200 traditional pianos. Hailun Piano's smart digital piano sales rose from 2,152 in 2024 to 7,313 in 2025. In the first half of 2026, it sold 4,206, up a further 49.57% year on year and exceeding the 2,567 traditional pianos it sold over the same period. Housing constraints, sound insulation, and price are all pushing beginners toward electronic instruments. Starting with a digital piano and switching to an acoustic one after becoming seriously committed to learning is likely to become more common. 4. Music will move from being a course to being part of lifestyle spending. Chance-encounter videos attract the widest circulation; performance schedules are among the most popular content; and wellness and cultural tourism are emerging exhibition sections. People's demand for music has not diminished. They simply no longer meet that demand solely by buying an instrument and enrolling in a class. Those who connect learning with enjoyment, social interaction, and emotional fulfillment will be best placed to reach the next wave of users. ## Final Thoughts Losing 800 exhibitors sounds like bad news. But viewed differently, some of the scale built on the idea that every family should buy a piano and everyone should take graded examinations was always inflated. As that inflated demand subsides, genuine demand becomes clearer. The industry is shrinking, but the number of people who love music has not fallen. This industry has endured for hundreds of years, through booms and busts, rising and falling tides. It has a resilience of its own. AD Founded in 2016, Violy describes itself as a leading instrument practice app worldwide. Over the decade to 2026, it has followed the development of music education in China alongside teachers and fellow industry professionals.