Instruments of change
Trees ease desertification in Henan province, and have also helped locals tune into a more prosperous life, Chen Meiling reports in Lankao.
Paulownia trees in Lankao county, of Henan province stand as stoic reminders of dedication and the ability to survive in harsh environments.
Back in the 1960s, when locals suffered in the hands of strong winds and sandstorm, the late Party secretary Jiao Yulu proposed planting paulownia trees across the county as part of the fight to stave off desertification, drastically improve the natural environment and change the lives of future generations.
It’s also a testament to surviving poverty. As a plant, it is hard to deform or crack, and with its porous wood, capable of a full resonance and stentorian sound, paulownia is a suitable material to make musical instruments. In recent decades, many residents have, literally, carved out a better life and escaped poverty by doing just that.
Now, rows of tall paulownia trees stand straight along the streets of Lankao, with their leaves whispering in the wind, as if telling legendary stories of the county while symbolizing a decadeslong friendship between humans and nature.
The yard of Xu Yachong, 28, in Xuchang village of Lankao, is permeated with the unique aroma of paulownia as a woman whittles away at a piece of wood, with dozens of completed guqin,
a zither-like seven-stringed plucked instrument, hanging behind her.
In the exhibition and sales room, a man plays guqin to lure visitors. Xu, together with his pregnant wife, broadcasts a melodious ensemble via livestream.
Like many villagers, Xu has developed a whole, family-based, industrial chain for paulownia — production, sales, marketing and giving guqin lessons — through which they turned the wood into gold.
“The musical instrument business has greatly improved our lives and many other families in the village,” Xu says, adding that his homemade guqin
can sell from 50,000 yuan ($7,807) to 180,000 yuan, and that, on average, he sells about 300 guqin a year. About 10 percent of Xu’s instruments are exported to countries such as Germany and Malaysia.
Walking through the village, there is music everywhere. Since the industry took off in the 1980s, about 90 out of Xuchang’s 105 families produce up to 20 kinds of folk instruments, including zithers like guzheng and guqin as well as pipa, a Chinese lute, and yangqin,a
Chinese hammered dulcimer, alongside related products like stands, stools and other accessories.
Xu initially had no interest in guqin, even though his father was in the business. That changed after he watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when the beauty of traditional cultural elements like writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and ink stones, accompanied by music played on guqin, impressed him. After that, he developed a hobby around what he regards “an elegant musical instrument that expresses Chinese culture”.
At the age of 16, he began learning how to play the guqin, and he has since traveled across China — from Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, Kaifeng in Henan province to Beijing and Shanghai — in a bid to understand the whole production method and learn different playing techniques.
“When I was young, sales of the guqin were not good, as few manufacturers knew how to actually play and it was hard to promote,” he says. “The older generation used to carry the guqin to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in Guangdong province to try to sell them, or would go to railway stations asking if anybody wanted one.”
Now, however, many of the manufacturers of the instrument can play it as well, as it’s important to know how to tune it, he notes, adding that the production method has also become standardized. Couriers are more frequently seen, now, as well, he explains, due to the increase in e-commerce sales, adding that there are also professional training institutions for children and adults.
Xu Yongshun, director of Xuchang village, told media that back in 2014, Xuchang was a poor village, and only two or three families made musical instruments. The village reduced poverty by developing the industry and, now, products from the village are sold across the globe, with an annual output value of 120 million yuan.
“Per capita income reached 50,000 yuan annually. Let’s say we have set a foot on the path to moderate prosperity,” he told Henan TV.
Once a poor county suffering from sandstorms, floods and unproductive saline soil, Lankao, empowered by the spirit of survival, is now one of the three major folk musical instrument production centers in China, alongside Dunhuang, Gansu province, and Yangzhou, Jiangsu province.
The county, with about 6 million paulownia trees, produces more than 90 percent of the country’s paulownia wood soundboards. Its 268 factories produce around 700,000 musical instruments and 5 million related accessories per year. Occupying about 30 percent of China’s folk musical instrument market, its products are sold to over 10 countries and regions and annual production value in the county has reached 2 billion yuan.
Xu Yachong says his future dream is to help make guqin a landmark of Lankao, and develop the business into a large-scale industry. He also plans to open a training institution, “so that more people can learn and appreciate the art”.