In April of 1995, Yamaha Corporation entered into a joint venture with Pearl River Piano to establish a state-of-the-art $10,000,000 piano factory in Guangzhou, China.  At that time, Yamaha announced the joint venture as a two-pronged strategy to secure a foothold in the growing Chinese piano market and to provide competitively priced pianos to markets throughout the world.

Five years later, this sleek 200,000-square-foot factory and its 250 employees are building pianos at the rate of 34 per day (9000 units per year).  Under the terms of this 20 year joint-venture agreement, Yamaha receives 60% of the plants output with the balance going to Pearl River.

The factory builds three models of high-polish ebony upright pianos: a 42" Yamaha piano for export featuring a Pearl River action and Yamaha keyboard (not available in the USA); a 48" Yamaha for the local market built with a Japanese action and keyboard and a 49" Pearl River upright built exclusively from Pearl River parts.  Pianos are all assembled on the same line from case parts, plates, backs, and hardware built at the nearby Pearl River factory.  Case parts used are subjected to an additional ultra-violet polyester finish.  All pianos, whether sold in the local market or destined for foreign markets, carry a sticker on the key slip labeling them as products produced by Guangzhou Yamaha Pearl River Piano Inc.