Gulangyu Piano Museum--Asia's Largest

Click to Access
OUTSIDE China
Click to Access
INSIDE China
TRAVEL LINKS
Xiamen Gulangyu
Jimei Tong'an
Jinmen Z hangzhou
Quanzhou Wuyi
#1Fujian Sites!
Fujian Foto Album
Books on Fujian
Readers'Letters
Ningde Zhouning
Longyan Sanming
Putian Bridges
Travel Info,
Hakka Roundhouses
Travel Agents

MISC. LINKS
Amoy People!
Darwin Driving
Amoy Tigers
Chinese Inventions
Tibet in 80 Days!
Dethroned!
Misc.Writings
Latest News
Lord of Opium
Back to Main Page

Kung Fu

Prof. (Artist) Tang Shaoyun Sherlock Holmes of the Canvas!

AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Copyright 2001-7 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books Xiamenguide Forum
Main Page Business Links Recreation Links Google Search E-mail
Gulangyu Piano Museum (Asia's Largest) Adapted from "Discover Gulangyu"
Museum Links:Museum Main Page China's 1st Anthropology Museum Lin Yutang Museum Chinese - European Art Center Lu Xun Museum Postal Museum Piano Museum Xiamen Museum Overseas Chinese Museum Xiamen Meteoroligcal Center Calligraphy Square Bridge Museum Weird World Museum Life Sciences Museum Art in the Park Music Square (proof that Chopin was Chinese!) Quanzhou Maritime Museum (well worth the drive!) Xiamen Military Museum
World's Largest Organ Museum

Xiamen Gulangyu Piano Museum (厦门鼓浪屿钢琴博物馆) Given Gulangyu’s musical heritage, it is no surprise that Australian Overseas Chinese Mr. Hu Youyi chose his ancestral home for Asia’s largest piano museum, which now has over 100 pianos from the U.K., France, the U.S., Germany, Austria, and Australia, as well as over 100 priceless piano lamps. (Hu also opened the world's largest organ museum on Gulangyu).

The Gulangyu Piano Museum’s two halls are set within the tropical flowers and trees of a 2,000 square meter tract of land on the hill overlooking Shuzhuang Garden and the sea. A perfect way to finish a tour of the museum is to sit on one of the piano benches before the ceiling-to-floor plate glass windows and savor the scenery while listening to piped in classical piano pieces.
Mr. Hu’s collection includes a French street musician's barrel piano (I half expected to see an organ grinder and a monkey), the Broadwood & Sons piano that won a golden medal at the Paris International Fair, a grand piano with ivory keys from an English palace, and a piano cherished by president Lincoln.

The first of the two halls opened January of 2000, and has the collection’s oldest piano. Although few pianos are actually built by pianists, this instrument was crafted in 1801 by visionary composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832).

Clementi crafted both uprights and grands on which to perform his more than 106 sonatas (46 were for violin, cello or flute), as well as countless smaller pieces. Clementi is also remembered for the horrifying tale in which George Grove visited Clementi’s nephew, a vicar in southeast England, and found the maid lighting a fire with Clementi’s manuscript! I wonder if she was fired?

Hall #1 also has the world’s tallest upright piano (an 1824 Broadwood & Sons, from London), and Hall No. 2 showcases the development of the piano with exhibits like the 1928 Haines. The most expensive piano of its era, this American marvel was completely automatic, able to perfectly imitate the styles of many well known pianists. As of this writing, the Haines is played for visitors daily at 4 pm. Address: No.45 Huangyan Rd (Shuzhuang Garden)