Parents see piano as a key to unlock success

Many believe children's intellectual abilities can be boosted by learning the instrument. Zhao Xinying reports.

Guo Yujing hasn't touched her piano for two years.

That would have been unimaginable when she was learning to play the instrument from the ages of 5 to 15.

At that time, Guo practiced for at least two hours a day. When an exam drew near, she spent all day－with the exceptions of mealtimes and sleeping－studying the black-and-white keys.

That lasted until 2010, when Guo passed the Grade 10 exam, the highest level for students.

Success of this type is a satisfying achievement in the eyes of many Chinese parents, and also a sign that they can temporarily call a halt to the piano studies of their often unenthusiastic children.

Guo's school life became increasingly busy after she started the ninth grade, meaning she rarely sat down at the piano her parents had bought when she started learning the instrument.

Instead, it stood abandoned in a corner of the family home in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

The 24-year-old, who is set to graduate from postgraduate school soon, is interning at a video games company in Shanghai.

She said the piano is now something she can only see and touch when she visits the family home.

Statistics from the Chinese Musicians Association show that the number of children in the country learning to play piano exceeded 30 million in 2016, and the figure has risen by 10 percent every year since then.

Despite growing student numbers, online news portal ThePaper cited music industry reports that show about 10 percent of learners born in the 1990s rarely touched the instrument after they completed all the exams. Guo is among their number.