But the old style, of learning from the master, is clearly still alive between Zheng Quan and his students. Now, he says, there’s a wealth of information and many technical advances to draw from. Magistad: Zheng Quan is referring to the old style of education where a student worked with a master, and learned his craft through oral tradition from that one person. Zheng: “So the new generation not only talented for using the hand, they have more knowledge for the science, the physical, for material, for wood, for a lot of things, so I think this is different from the traditional violin making education.” Magistad: Zheng Quan says, he’s impressed with what he’s seeing so far. After that, we have the Master, three years’ course. In high school we have three or four years for preparing, in university we have four years. Magistad: “Eleven years of education for learning how to make a violin?” And after that I think they will become very good violin makers. Zheng: We have eleven years for education, very long. He’s doing it through a program he runs at the Chinese Conservatory of Music: Now, in his early 60s, he has a dream - to nurture a new generation of world-class Chinese master violin-makers. He studied for five years in Italy’s violin-making center of Cremona, and has won international violin-making competitions. The most renowned among those masters is Zheng Quan. But among China’s master violin-makers, it’s an art. Violin-making in factories like Huadong’s may be mostly about technical competence. That system works well for low to mid-quality violins – and China’s violin industry now dominates the market in that range.īut even at the upper end of the market, quality is coming up fast. The different parts are then assembled here at the factory. She says each is trained for up to a year, to become competent at making one violin part. Magistad: Geng says the factory regularly invites in master craftsmen, and holds competitions among the factory’s violin-makers. Geng: “I think the quality and also the skills of our workers are improving fast, and I think the quality of the violins we make here will be better and better. Huadong’s General Secretary is Geng Zhan Hua: A competent Chinese craftsman or woman in this factory earns perhaps $800 a month – a good middle-class salary here, especially since many of these violin-makers are former farmers. Italy’s craftsmen can’t compete on price with the lower to medium quality violins, because Italian craftsmen won’t work for what Chinese violin-makers will gladly take. Ninety percent of these instruments will be exported – to the United States, Germany, South Korea – even Italy, home of premium violin making. Magistad: In the factory’s assembly room, workers take parts that were each honed by specialists, and piece them together, into new violins and cellos. It makes most of Donggaocun’s violins, and markets them globally under the brand Huayun. There are a couple dozen violin factories here in Donggaocun, but one monster – Huadong. But she says it has improved quickly, and now the town of Donggaocun alone – population 30,00 - provides one-third of the world’s new violins. Magistad: Zhang admits that the initial quality of the violins made here was marginal.
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