Chinese music culture is often criticised for not giving artists the freedom to innovate and be creative. Studies exploring this from the point of view of Chinese piano professionals are limited. This study, therefore, investigates the influence of sociocultural dynamics in contemporary Chinese piano performance. Online, semistructured interviews, which contained open-ended questions were conducted among 12 professional piano performers from China. Some of them were music teachers and their professional experiences ranged from as little as six years to almost 50 years. The findings were analysed thematically using NVivo. A total of seven themes were found: 1) Chinese professional piano performers strongly appreciated the role of social and cultural influences in their performance; 2) Chinese culture influenced performances through artistic expression and cultural representation; 3) This culture was reflected in the piano performance improvement techniques; 4) Western culture influenced piano performance by establishing rules, structure and personality; 5) As compared to Chinese culture, Western culture offered more rules and less freedom for innovative piano composition; and lastly, 6) Chinese piano professionals faced several challenges in navigating Western culture for their composition, performance and innovation. The findings contradict the researched notion that Chinese musical cultures offer less freedom, creativity and autonomy to participants. Additionally, the challenges faced by Chinese pianists to understand Western piano compositions were starkly reflected. This calls for the need to develop new policies and music technology solutions.
