Unique maker of string instrument lifts region out of poverty

Reporter: Chen Ziqi; narrated by Luo Laiming

Zithers made by Lankao County in Henan province [Photo: from IC]

One of the poorest regions in China has become the first in the area to lift itself out of poverty thanks to the efforts of the local government in developing the traditional local musical instrument-making industry.

Lankao County, in the northeast part of central China's Henan province, has been considered one of the poorest regions for decades. But after moves to encourage locals to get back to their traditional musical roots, the area finally emerged from poverty in March 2017, and since then, living conditions have improved remarkably.

At the beginning of 2016, the Chinese central government asked local governments to carry out thorough analyses of what industries would best suit their regions for growth, then do their utmost to spur on their development.

Lankao County has traditionally been good at making folk musical instruments. After being inspired by the central government's initiative, several towns in the county decided to develop this traditional industry more, along with other sectors, like wooden products processing and agritourism.

Paulownia trees on the street [Photo: from IC]

Now roughly 65 percent of villagers in Guyang Town are involved in folk music instrument manufacture, and it's made possible by the abundant resources of the Paulownia Tree – which is Paotong in Chinese-- in this area.

This type of wood is the perfect material for making Chinese stringed instruments, primarily due to its excellent durability and ability to produce air vibration. Liu Panyan is a leader from the local government of Guyang town. She says defining the industry that would work best in their area came about by accident.

"We benefit from lots of Paulownia trees, and now we are vastly developing our instrument manufacturing industry. The original reason to plant this type of tree was for wind prevention and to stop sand encroaching,” Liu Panyan says, “Then we found that the quality of Paulownia wood is ideal for making the body of stringed instruments. Our discovery was also approved by experts. Now the Paulownia tree has become the treasure of our town."

Workers from Xu Paihang’s shop were making zithers, a stringed musical instrument. [Photo: from China Plus]

On visiting a local Chinese zither store in Guyang town, we found several workers concentrating on making products in the backyard by hand. Each has their individual responsibility during the process of making the musical instrument, whether it's chopping wood, painting, polishing or tuning.

Xu Paihang is the owner of this store, which he has been running for over a decade. It makes about 500 zithers a year, and the products are sold across the nation and exported overseas. According to Xu, the procedure of making one zither is complicated and time-consuming, and needs several workers' cooperation. Each zither takes six months to make. Xu Paihang recalls inviting his relatives to join him when he just opened his shop.

"At the beginning, I couldn't manage my business on my own, and my relatives were working outside our region. I thought I could offer jobs to them, so they could stay close to their families,” Xu Paihang says, “When I asked them they were all keen to do it. One of my staff, his family was very poor, and he was working in the construction industry at the time. I asked if he wanted to work with me and said he didn't need to invest any money. He accepted my invitation."

Xu Paihang's business has expanded rapidly in recent years, and he's receiving more orders than before, thanks to a growing logistics industry and an upgraded local transport system. Xu plans to recruit more villagers to join his company this year.

Zithers made by Lankao County in Henan province [Photo: from IC]

Guyang town has become a nationally well-known manufacturing base for producing Chinese folk instruments nationwide. Around 200 folk instrument companies have settled there. The local government is intending to accelerate the growth rate of this industry even further with a 72-hectare industrial park under construction for companies making the instruments.

The first stage of the industrial park has been accomplished, with total spending of 150 million yuan, about USD 24 million. 11 folk instrument manufacturing companies have set up their headquarters there and produce more than 20 kinds of traditional Chinese instruments and accessories, overall making roughly 700,000 instruments and a million accessories each year. 

These products are sold across the country and exported abroad, including to the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.

To ensure the healthy and sustainable development of this industry, as well as protecting natural resources from over exploitation, the local government has been growing more Paulownia trees in a controlled way in the area with hospitable soil. So far, about 87 hectares of land has been newly allocated for planting Paulownia trees. 

[Photo: from China Plus]

A gardening team has been established to take care of these trees, adopting a management system of watering, fertilizing and spraying with pesticide, to meet market demand for a high quality wood material.

Meanwhile, the local government of Lankao County is also emphasizing and promoting projects to plant trees on both-sides of highways, roads and in other suitable areas. It is forecast that 1800 hectors of forest will be grown by the end of 2018, with 5.54 million trees. This also boosts villagers' incomes. They are able to obtain 50 to 100 yuan subsidy per person each day, depending on each individual's work volume. Zhao Dong is vice president of the Lankao Bureau of Forestry and Livestock. She says some villagers have become full-time forest patrollers.

"We are taking over land from villagers to grow trees. To compensate the previous owners, we hire them and their families to take care of the trees so that they can earn a good income,” Zhao Dong says, “We also hire villagers who are from poor family to participate in this program, as long as they are physically capable of doing this job. It is helpful for them to increase their income, and they still can stay in thier hometown without going to bigger cities."

Laokao County is just one example of poorer regions of China that are striving to accelerate their economic growth. In the near future, more regions will gradually lift themselves completely out of poverty.