Russian pianist Galina Chistiakova says she has never experienced anything like the 16 days she spent in Guangdong province's Shenzhen city earlier this month.
The 24-year-old says it has been a blur of immersing herself in Chinese culture amid a whirl of piano competitions.
"This is the most difficult competition I have taken (part in)," Chistiakova, who took first prize, says.
"I feel like a sportswoman in the Olympic Games, as I have to play two concertos without a break in the final. But my stay in Shenzhen is a perfect experience. I didn't have to worry about anything and could concentrate totally on my performance."
She had never even heard of the metropolis, she says, until she entered the China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition. That's despite Shenzhen's domestic identification as the country's "Piano City".
The contestants stayed with about 30 host families, most of whom are well-to-do and have children studying piano.
Chistiakova's hosts provided her with an independent sleeping room and bathroom, three daily meals, a car to drive her to and from the performance venue, and a Boston piano for practicing.
"I have participated in many competitions around the world, but never in my life there was anything like this," she says.
It was a special experience for her host mother, Deng Lihong, too.
The real estate investor was grateful for the chance to expose her 12-year-old daughter to piano through interactions with Chistiakova. She also met prospective tutors for her daughter through her involvement with the competition.
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