China’s guitar capital Zheng’an builds a stairway to export heaven after decade‑long manufacturing boom
Zheng’an, a modest town in Guizhou’s mountains, now greets visitors with a towering guitar sculpture in its central square, murals of fretboards on walls, and even trash cans shaped like the instrument. In just a decade the place has become the source of roughly one in every seven guitars sold worldwide.
That transformation began in 2012 when local officials launched the "return the phoenix to the nest" programme, urging migrant workers to come home and start factories. Former Guangzhou entrepreneur Zheng Chuanjiu answered the call, founding Shenqu Guitar and setting up the first workshop in the new economic zone. His success attracted dozens of former villagers, sparking a cluster of specialised guitar makers.
The county sweetened the deal with three‑year tax holidays, ten years of free rent and streamlined export‑rebate procedures. Combined with a climate that luthiers say is ideal for wood seasoning, the incentives proved magnetic. Master craftsman Zhang Weiyi, who relocated from Guangzhou in 2019, now hand‑shapes a few hundred instruments each year, while the town as a whole churns out about 2.5 million guitars annually.
Exports have exploded: in 2025 the hub shipped roughly 248 million yuan of guitars to more than forty countries, supported by generous subsidies that local firms say saved them 147 million yuan in tax relief that year alone. The scale has drawn scrutiny abroad, yet officials argue the model arrests rural depopulation and gives the region a distinctive industrial identity.
Beyond economics, music has seeped into daily life. The main square reverberates with melodies, and it’s common to see children and adults alike strolling with guitar cases on their way to lessons. The atmosphere, described by Zhang as "really nice," feels like a community built around a shared chord.