"Years of Music" Audio Museum

"Years of Music" Audio Museum is a facility in Guangdong that holds more than 300 sound devices from different technological eras, ranging from early gramophones to contemporary audio equipment. The collection is arranged to show how recording and playback methods changed over time, with each section representing a distinct period of development.

The museum emerged to preserve the history of sound recording in China, starting with wax cylinders and shellac records that first introduced recorded music to the country. Over time, it expanded to include the transistor radios and cassette players that became central to how people experienced music in their homes.

The collection reveals how sound recording changed the way people shared music in China, with sections showing radio broadcasts from different decades and vinyl records that shaped listening habits across generations.

The museum can be explored at your own pace, with the collection laid out in connected rooms that flow logically from one period to the next. Staff members are positioned throughout to answer questions about specific devices and their operation.

Visitors can actually operate some of the older devices and hear how they sounded, making it possible to experience the acoustic qualities that shaped listening habits across generations. This hands-on element transforms the collection from observation into real sensory memory.