"Seven years ago, they just wanted to own a piano, whatever its name or brand," Fang says. "Then they wanted pianos with brands. But now they are looking for famous brands and high quality."

Hou Dongmin, manager of the Dongcheng store of Yuebo Music in Beijing, says his store last year sold 15 to 20 Bluthner pianos ranging from 348,000 yuan to 1.5 million yuan. After Yuebo Music introduced Bluthner into the Beijing market in 2009, its sales volume has been growing by about 30 percent. This year he expects growth to be 40 percent to 50 percent.

While searching for high quality, customers also desire to own something special and set higher demands for the design of the pianos.

"Some customers are not satisfied with a traditional black piano at home. Instead, they prefer to have pianos that are of various styles and have certain artistic flair," Lu says. "They want the piano themselves to be works of art."

Lu recently sold a red Schimmel grand piano priced at 2.68 million yuan, its beautiful looks helping push the price higher.

The most expensive Art Case piano Steinway has sold in China was to a private customer in 2008 for $1.2 million. The piano contains 10,000 pieces of veneer that form the shape of a peacock.

According to Patton, the inside of all Steinway pianos, the keys, how it plays, how it is built, how it sounds, is exactly the same. But for an Art Case piano, customers can submit ideas on the design and decorations on the outside.

"The combination of the investment value of the regular Steinway piano, with the special quality of an Art Case, makes this an extremely attractive investment opportunity for people," he says.

However, at present, the major markets for big piano brands are still Europe and the US. For Steinway, the Chinese market is worth a tenth of its US sales. But Patton sees the future of the Chinese market to be "very, very bright". The company's goal is to increase brand awareness for customers who are interested in pianos and to those who have the means to buy them.

"Once they have the awareness - these pianos are available and they could have one custom crafted for them - they want to own it," he says.  

Lu Jian also says that Parsons Music has been working hard to introduce more people to Fazioli and some other big brands by presenting pianos in luxury products shows and holding national piano competitions.

Fang Yang says the market has even greater potential in the long term.

"What we are doing is not only for the current piano market in China, but also preparing for the Chinese piano market in the next 50 years," he says.

Contact the writers at chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn and yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn