Huge debt, big bet

As Zhang grew from apprentice to model employee, Dongbei Piano underwent profound changes. In 1988, the company wholly acquired the Swedish piano brand Nordiska, paying $750,000, and it sent 25 skilled workers, including Zhou, for training at Nordiska.

"It was rewarding," Zhou said. "My teachers at home told me how, and the Swedish masters showed me why."

In 1998, Dongbei Piano signed a contract to produce grand pianos with Daewoo, a manufacturer in the Republic of Korea, and the Chinese company set up a grand piano plant the following year.

"It was a dream to produce grand pianos," said Guo Kai, a 46-year-old instrument designer who joined Dongbei Piano in 1998 as a university graduate. The road ahead was never a smooth one, however, with changes in market demand and challenges in business management.

In its heyday, the company produced 30,000 uprights and 10,000 grands a year, making it China's third-largest piano manufacturer.

However, a sharp decline in international demand ahead of the 2008 global financial crisis saw the heavily export-oriented company fall on hard times.

As a result of the restructuring of China's State-owned enterprises, Gibson, a guitar maker in the United States, acquired full ownership of Dongbei Piano in December 2006.

The new company, named Baldwin Dongbei Piano Instruments, laid off workers, who struck out on their own after taking a lump sum in compensation.

Unlike those sad colleagues, tuner Zhang Yongqing had been longing to find a new job. "The traditional State-owned enterprise was like a comfort zone. I could imagine what my life would be until retirement－nothing exceptional," the 50-year-old said. He quickly left for Dalian, a coastal city in the province, and worked as a tuner for a musical instrument store.