Wellbeing has become a central concern in global music education research (Hallam, 2010; MacDonald, Kreutz & Mitchell, 2012; Wright, 2016), reflecting broader international discourses on holistic development, creativity, and lifelong learning. Yet in the Chinese educational context, wellbeing remains underexplored. Official rhetoric surrounding suzhijiaoyu (素质教育, “quality education”) emphasizes holistic cultivation and aesthetic refinement, but in practice, exam success and measurable achievement continue to dominate. As a result, wellbeing is rarely articulated as an explicit educational aim, and students’ lived experiences of pressure, competition, and self-realisation often remain marginal within institutional frameworks (Li, 2021).This paper focuses on the Chinese context to examine how wellbeing is experienced, overlooked, or redefined in music education. It explores the tensions between policy ideals and everyday realities through a combination of document analysis, archival study, and ethnographic interviews with music students and relevant stakeholders. Policy documents and historical materials trace how notions of wellbeing have (or have not) been integrated into state-led visions of education. Meanwhile, interviews with conservatory and school-level students provide insight into how exam-oriented training, hierarchical teacher-student relationships, and the utilitarian logics of higher education shape feelings of joy, fatigue, and self-worth.Particular attention is given to differences of family background and geography. The urban-rural divide significantly affects access to resources, parental expectations, and students’ future opportunities (Ho, 2011). By exploringsuch inequalities, the study situates wellbeing not as a universal psychological state but as a culturally contingent construct embedded in China’s educational structures, institutional logics, and artistic practices.The findings reveal contradictions between the aspirational ideals of suzhi jiaoyu and the competitive, exam-driven realities of music schooling. They demonstrate that while students may derive joy and identity through musical practice, structural inequalities and performance pressures often undermine wellbeing. The paper therefore calls for a rethinking of wellbeing and equity as critical dimensions of music education in China. More broadly, it contributes to international debates on how wellbeing can be theorised and cultivated in diverse cultural contexts, urging educators and policymakers to consider the socio-cultural specificities that shape students’ experiences of music learning.