Erhu industries flourish in east China's Wuxi

Industries of traditional Chinese instrument the erhu are booming in Wuxi City of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument, is also known as the Chinese violin. It produces sharp and narrow peaks with only two strings and can express endless joys and sorrows. It is categorized as an intangible cultural heritage item and is adapting to the modern times.

Snake skin can be a popular fashion element, but this specialty leather is used as the skin of the erhu resonator.

"Although the erhu comes from the western regions of China, in the course of the past hundred years, it has become a musical instrument of our nation, and has become part of our cultural identity," said Yang Xinwei, Communist Party Secretary, Meicun Sub-district in Wuxi.

Meicun in Wuxi is a strategic place for the instrument. A quarter of the global mid-to-high-end erhus are made here.

"Meicun has nearly 20 erhu making enterprises. The industry worth about 50 million yuan (about 6.87 million U.S. dollars). We sell about 50,000 erhu every year," Yang said.

Delicate instruments like the erhu needs to be hand-made, and the know-hows are often passed down through apprenticeships in generations.

"It's all about the texture. The quality of the erhu depends on our feel of it by hands. You can't just listen to the sound. That is not accurate," said Shen Jianbo, a worker, Guyue instrument store.

Resonator is crucial for sound-making. The one for the erhu is a wooden pot, covered by snake skin, or to be more precise - python leather.

"The most crucial is the process of skinning, because whether sound of an erhu is good depends on the tightness, and the thickness of the snakeskin. So choosing the right piece is a test to the maker's skill," said Bo Guangjun, Erhu Non-Intangible Cultural Inheritor, Wuxi.

But choosing the right material is just the first step. The leather needs to be carefully processed to accommodate the dynamic vibration coming through the resonator.

"Then we need to soak the leather in water. Depending on the weather, the temperature, and the humidity, the duration of the soaking is different. When do we say it is soaked throughout, how much you scrape it off with knife, that all takes experience," Bo said.

Producers of the erhu are also thinking of substitute to the python leather for the wild-animal skin to clear customs easier for oversea markets.

"Python is a protected wild animal, so we need to get permission in making it. We are also aware of the protection in the international realm. So we found synthetic leather. We have already made some erhu with it and it has stood the test of performers on stage," Yang said.

Despite facing numerous challenges, the erhu-making industries have exhibited consistent growth.

Meicun Village promotes the instruments with competitions, concerts, and even registering a trademark collectively. It has become not just a business of making instruments, but an education-entertainment industrial complex.

Erhu industries flourish in east China's Wuxi

Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit resonated with the common aspiration of more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people and demonstrated China's firm will of moving forward hand-in-hand with Africa along the path of development, revitalization and modernization, several participants at the event have said.

In his speech on Thursday, Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He also announced that the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan (about 50.8 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to Africa over the next three years.

"Everyone was happy to hear those news, so everyone was clapping. So now we are going to a higher level of relations between China and Africa," said Hamidou, a counselor at the Embassy of Comoros in Beijing.

"China understands Africa's urgent desire to advance modernization. We can learn a lot from China's development," said Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean Marie Traore.

Xi also suggested 10 partnership actions for modernization that China will take together with Africa in the next three years to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead modernization in the Global South.

"President Xi, through his long vision of the needs of countries and his interest in supporting development, has offered this as a real vehicle to promote exports of Africa to China, which is a huge market," said Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Professions (UACCIAP).

"As he told this morning, we have many projects in digitalization, in capacity building, in health centers, support for health, for infrastructure, in the framework of the Belt and [Road]. And we think that we are very satisfied with this partnership. This is a win-win partnership," said Gabriel Mbairobe, Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, the 2024 FOCAC summit brought together leaders from China and over 50 African countries, who highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.

During the summit, both sides unanimously adopted two important documents -- a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and an action plan of the FOCAC for the next three years.

Xi's speech at FOCAC summit resonates with people's common aspiration: participants