ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — A knife turns gently against a scroll taking shape in a workshop. The craftsman blows softly, sending fine shavings dancing in a ray of sunlight, and the air is filled with the scent of spruce and maple.
The scene could easily belong in Cremona, Italy. Yet it is unfolding in Queshan, a county of about 374,500 people in central China’s Henan Province that has quietly become one of the world’s major sources of handmade violins.
The craft originated in 16th-century Italy and spread across the globe by the 18th century. In the 1980s, villagers from Queshan joined the tide of migrant workers heading to faraway cities. Many found jobs in violin factories in Beijing. Over the years, they built a reputation as master craftsmen. Some even ran their own workshops.
In 2015, Queshan began calling its natives home and laid plans for a violin industrial park. More than 60 luthiers returned to start businesses, assigning production roles to households where villagers can be trained and employed.
Unlike factory workers on city assembly lines, Queshan’s craftsmen often specialize in a single stage, sawing timber, carving plates, fitting bodies, or cutting scrolls. They can also take components home and set their own hours.
He Ruixia is one of those returnees. “My hours are flexible, and I’m paid for each piece I finish,” she said, bending over a violin while her husband assembled a cello nearby.
“Since I came back, I earn more and I’m happier,” she said. “It’s easier to look after my family and still get my work done.”
The instruments she makes will be shipped from the northern port of Tianjin to the United States, the biggest overseas market for Queshan violins by both volume and value.
Queshan holds more than 80 percent of the domestic market for mid to high-end handmade violins, according to Jiang Baolin, secretary-general of the Queshan Handmade Violin Makers Association.
Taking advantage of the digital age, local workshops are now reaching buyers through social media. In a livestream at a factory in Zhugou Township, a host works with a musician testing instruments live as customers from Australia, Russia and France place orders online.
“Cross-border e-commerce presents our violins to customers across the globe,” Jiang said. “Short videos and livestreaming enable overseas customers to see for themselves the quality of Chinese violin-making. People in the trade have long known that good handmade violins come from Queshan, but there was no channel to buy them before.”
Today, violins made in Queshan are sold in more than 30 countries and regions, including the United States, Italy, France and Germany. The county has built a complete industrial chain spanning timber processing, accessory carving and spray-painting. Its 144 violin-making and supporting businesses employ more than 2,600 local people, who turn out about 400,000 violins a year, generating an annual industrial output of 600 million yuan (89.5 million U.S. dollars).
The industry has also been a path out of poverty. In February 2020, Queshan was among the last 14 impoverished counties in Henan Province to be removed from China’s poverty list.
The violin continues to inspire the next generation. According to Jiang, several primary schools in the county offer violin classes, giving children a chance to learn the instrument their own families make. “Several young people are now studying at conservatories in Beijing, Tianjin, Xi’an and Shanghai,” he said. ■