Deputy striking the right notes
While Lei Yan attends the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, people in her home village in Southwest China’s Guizhou province have been busy building a special type of square.
The square will feature performances by lusheng players. The traditional musical instrument of the Miao ethnic group features multiple bamboo pipes, each fitted with a reed, which are placed into a long wooden blowing tube.
The lusheng is played typically during the Lusheng Festival, the most influential festival of the Miao community, which falls at the end of March this year.
The new square is of special significance to Lei because it is being built with funds raised by the NPC deputies.
She proposed building it in her home village of Basuo a year ago when she spoke at an NPC panel discussion.
“When I was a kid, my friends and I spent most of our time singing and dancing at our village’s lusheng square. But as time passed, the square needed repairs. Villagers had no choice but to dance there, but the place was covered by mud and dirt,” said Lei, who is a professional singer.
It was then that she decided to help revive the venue as well as the Miao ethnic culture, which was being neglected as more people moved to cities.
Before leaving for Beijing for this year’s NPC session, Lei’s efforts helped to raise 1 million yuan ($136,000) from local governments, enterprises and philanthropists to build the square so that it could be completed in time for the Lusheng Festival.
Two Sessions, One Minute