Actually, on the price issue, Chinese currency has recently strengthened against the dollar, so this may be rippling across the board on Chinese imports. I just bought a Chinese-built cello for my wife's birthday (Thursday) and it had just taken a 10% hit compared to the price on the shop's web site. (And no, it isn't the retailer getting cute and making a fast buck. This is a husband & wife team in the woods of VT who are both professional cellists and mostly deal in $4k - $10k 30-100 year old instruments. The one I just purchased is neither.