Society

Farmers eye music industries in rural Beijing

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-08 10:42

BEIJING - Geng Guosheng, a violin production workshop owner in rural Beijing, is worried as most of his employees have turned to work in other workshops or factories in his township.

Geng is a native of Donggaocun township in Pinggu district, dubbed "China's Violin Production Base." The township produces nearly 300,000 violins, violas and cellos annually, or one third of the world's production volume, according to the district government.

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As he failed to keep his staff by offering a salary of more than 2,000 yuan ($305.6) per month on average, although the amount is adequately attractive in rural China, the number of the workers in the workshop fell from 10 to no more than five, including his wife, his son and himself.

"I can't accept any more as the manpower is not enough," said the 49-year-old. "It takes more than one year to train an inexperienced worker to become a skilled instrument maker."

The popularity of skilled workers in the township has embodied the booming violin production business here. Since 2006, the township government organized 15 instrument manufacture trainings and more than 1,500 peasants participated. To attract more, each trainee was granted 500 yuan as an allowance.

Currently, 3,000 peasants from Donggaocun, or 20 percent of the township's labor forces, are engaged in violin-related business, creating a manufacturing chain from material supplies, parts manufacturing to violin assembly.

Starting in the early 1990s, Geng's workshop produced 280 violins every month with sales prices from 300 yuan to 200,000, depending on different wood categories, handiwork quality, and sound effects.

"Much better than farming," he said, adding a farmer could only make 1,000 yuan per mu (0.06 hectare) every year at the township.

Despite the labor shortage, Geng is optimistic about the future of his workshop. "Once there is an investor, I'll immediately expand my business," he laughed.

To inherit his business, Geng's son, 24-year-old Geng Jia, studied playing violin for three years after graduating from high school. Now, he is learning how to make violins from his father.

"With the legacies my dad left for me, I believe my work will be much easier in the future," Geng Jia said.

Geng's workshop is among 150 family businesses in the 56-sq-km township. Further, there are also nine instrument production factories, among which the largest one is Huadong Musical Instrument Co., Ltd.

In 1988, Huangdong's current chairman, Liu Yundong, started his business with six other partners by making violin parts. By now, the company has reached an annual production of 220,000 string instruments such as violins, violas and electric basses, and 90 percent are exported to over 30 countries such as the United States, Germany, and the Republic of Korea.

It was Liu and his partners who led the movement of violin making in the township, and now the company had created their own instrument brand, "Huayun," said Geng Zhanhua, deputy secretary of the company committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The company is trying to further promote the brand to overseas markets, and also is planning to develop industrial tourism, she said.

Last year, 170,000 tourists visited the company, and most of them were university students and musical teachers. "We welcome people to see how violins are made, and even to make them by themselves."

After becoming famous for its instrument making, Pinggu District has included construction of a "China Music Valley" into its five-year plan.

With a total investment of 15 billion yuan, the district will build a 10-sq-km area, gathering music experts and lovers for creations, performances, recreation, and trainings. Infrastructures, such as clubs and hotels, would be built with the theme of music in five to ten years.

Unlike his father, who outsourced violin sales through trade dealers, Geng Jia would like to open an instrument store, as he is optimistic about the music industry's future in his hometown. "With enough money and enough experience, I'll do it."