Music for world, no strings attached

"We import raw materials and export the finished products. The cheap land and labor costs are the advantages in Zheng'an," Zheng said.

In 1995, Zheng and his brother, both natives of Zheng'an, went to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, to work at a guitar plant, where they were later promoted to management positions. In 2013, the two brothers started their own factory in Zheng'an, sowing the seeds of what turned out to be a booming business in guitars.

Last year, Zheng'an produced more than 6 million guitars, and the output value reached 6 billion yuan. More than 3.6 million guitars were exported to more than 30 countries and regions globally, including the US and Brazil, and the export value accounted for nearly one-third of the export value of guitars made in China.

With nearly 15,000 employees working there, the industrial park in Zheng'an expects sales to exceed 7 million units by the end of this year, with an output value of more than 7 billion yuan, according to the local government.

Guizhou Baikal Musical Instrument Co Ltd, another major guitar producer in Zheng'an, has developed two independent brands, and has sold its products nationwide through e-commerce platforms.

Its daily sales reach about 3,000 to 4,000 guitars, the largest nationwide, on online marketplace Taobao of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

"The user groups of guitars online are much broader, and the market potential is bigger. It's not difficult to tap the market by selling high-quality but inexpensive instruments to entry-level guitar players," said Zhao Shan, general manager of Guizhou Baikal.

Zhao has put in more efforts to sell guitars online. He aims to promote sales using the marketing strategy of "internet plus". The company has launched its products on major e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD, and sells its products domestically and overseas using its person-to-company, or P2C, business model.

Last year, the company sold more than 600,000 guitars online, with an average monthly sales of 53,000, it said. With strong sales, and demand rising, the production volume of Baikal is inadequate. But the six other guitar producers in the industrial park help meet the demand somehow.

In China, Zheng'an has come to be associated with guitar. Fittingly, the county has also built the world's largest guitar sculpture, a guitar street, a guitar-themed park, and a guitar-themed hotel.

Che Weiwei in Guiyang contributed to this story.