The Belt and Road · Zero Distance | A Chinese Guitar Playing the Voice of Harmony

Guiyang/Moscow, September 14th, Xinhua News Agency - Question: A Chinese Guitar Playing the Voice of Harmony

Plate selection, cutting and shaping, string assembly, tuning and testing... After more than 200 processes, exquisitely crafted guitars were born in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province, China, and then sold worldwide through China Europe freight trains, water transportation, and other means.

In a music studio on the outskirts of Moscow, Russian guitarist Grigory Novikov holds a classical guitar from Zheng'an County and plays Russian famous songs with emotion.

Novikov, who is 44 years old this year, started learning classical guitar as a teenager. In his nearly 30-year playing career, he has played countless guitars. Nowadays, he prefers the guitar produced in China in his arms.

"By chance, I obtained a guitar from Zheng'an County through a Chinese distributor, which gave me a deeper understanding of the manufacturing process of Chinese guitars and Chinese music culture," said Novikov.

Not only did Novikov play it himself, but he also recommended Chinese made guitars to people around him. He believes that although guitars are traditional Western instruments, Chinese produced guitars have reached international first-class standards in panel selection, production technology, sound quality, and timbre.

As Novikov flipped and jumped his fingertips, beautiful notes flowed out of the guitar. At the end of the song, the lingering sound lingered, leaving the listener intoxicated for a long time.

On April 2, 2021, Russian guitarist Gregory Novikov played the guitar at a concert in Perm, Russia. Shen Jizhong

At the same time, located more than 6000 kilometers away from Moscow in a straight line, in the Guitar Culture Industrial Park in Zheng'an County, more than 120 guitar production and supporting enterprises are continuously receiving orders from all over the world.

It is understood that the annual production and sales of guitars in Zheng'an County exceed 6 million, accounting for about one-fifth of China's and one-seventh of the world's total.

"I can't imagine, 10 years ago there was nothing here," said Zhu Meifang, director of the Zheng'an Ruixin Industrial Park Management Service Center. For a long time, due to constraints such as terrain and transportation, Zheng'an County, located in the mountainous areas of northern Guizhou, was once one of the deeply impoverished counties in Guizhou Province.

On March 25, 2020, workers were making guitars in the production workshop of the Guitar Culture Industrial Park in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province.

In order to change the face of poverty and take advantage of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, since 2013, Zheng'an County has vigorously attracted Zheng'an people who are engaged in guitar manufacturing abroad to return to their hometown and start their own businesses, setting aside the first note of the development of the local guitar industry.

"We produce over 100 brands worldwide through contract manufacturing, with an annual output of over 400000 guitars, 95% of which are used for export," Zheng Chuanjiu, founder of Zunyi Shenqu Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd., told reporters.

As the first guitar factory settled in Zheng'an County, Shenqu Company has become a local leading enterprise in the past ten years. Its products are exported to Türkiye, Russia, Romania and other countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" through China Europe Express, with an annual output value of up to 400 million yuan.

On March 25, 2020, workers were making guitars in the production workshop of the Guitar Culture Industrial Park in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province.

On April 13th of this year, the 2023 American Instrument Show was held at the Anaheim Convention and Exhibition Center in California, attracting over 1200 companies from 120 countries and regions to participate, including 38 guitar companies from Zheng'an County.

Hakan Kutlu, the general manager of a Türkiye company engaged in guitar sales, told reporters that they ordered more than 10000 guitars from Zunyi Divine Comedy Company every year. "Good quality, high cost performance, and popularity among customers are the reasons why I ordered Chinese musical instruments.".

At the exhibition, Natasha Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd., another guitar company from Zheng'an County, attracted the attention of guitar enthusiasts from various countries with its independently developed and designed all bamboo intelligent guitar.

On May 13, 2022, at the guitar culture exhibition hall of Natasha Company in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province, local female employees were learning to play the guitar.

Zhao Jianfeng, founder of Natasha Company, told reporters that traditional guitar manufacturing heavily relies on imported wood such as cedar, redwood, and mahogany. Their launch of smart guitars made from bamboo not only changes the current situation where Chinese guitar manufacturing heavily relies on imports, but also brings a richer playing experience through innovative technologies such as embedded sound cards and chips.

"Guitar originated in the West and has accumulated over a hundred years of craftsmanship and brand accumulation. In order for Chinese domestic brands to stand firm in global competition, they must work hard to improve their quality and highlight their characteristics." Zhao Jianfeng said that insisting on becoming a domestic brand is a "difficult and correct thing".

In recent years, Zheng'an County has vigorously cultivated independent brands, continuously improved the core competitiveness of the guitar industry, obtained 288 guitar related patents and 77 trademarks, and promoted more and more independent brands to go abroad and go global.

On March 25, 2020, workers painted guitars in the production workshop at the Guitar Culture Industrial Park in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province.

In the Master's Building of Zheng'an Guitar Culture Industrial Park, Zhang Weiyi is leading a team to create high-end customized guitars for global buyers.

"From raw material selection, to the production of various components such as the piano head and sound beam, and then to painting and assembly, making a handmade guitar takes an average of more than 100 days, and even up to half a year." Zhang Weiyi said that just the process of painting the panel requires more than 300000 times of manual application to achieve a recognizable effect.

In addition to striving for excellence in craftsmanship, Zhang Weiyi also incorporates Chinese culture into guitar making. He has incorporated elements such as Miao silver jewelry into guitar design, which has been favored by buyers around the world.

Last year, his studio produced a total of 172 guitars with a production value of nearly 10 million yuan. "What belongs to the nation is what belongs to the world." Zhang Weiyi believes that the guitar is not only a musical instrument, but also a cultural carrier. Only by imprinting a strong Chinese brand can it play its own voice on the stage of world cultural exchange.

"The 'the Belt and Road' has provided Zheng'an County with a vast world of foreign exchanges," Zhu Meifang told reporters. In recent years, in addition to selling guitars globally, Zheng'an County has also invited renowned guitarists from Sweden, Spain, Brazil and other countries to exchange and inspect, vigorously promoting the development of local guitar culture.

On March 25, 2020, at the Guitar Culture Industrial Park in Zheng'an County, Guizhou Province, workers placed semi-finished guitars on shelves.

In 2018, renowned Swedish guitarist Johannes Moeller was invited to become the "Zheng'an Guitar International Ambassador". He adapted a batch of popular Chinese music such as "Me and My Motherland", "In That Distant Place", and "Farewell" into guitar solos, which were included in the album "Chinese Memories on the Guitar".

"Zheng'an County is becoming an important center for global guitar manufacturing and guitar culture, and I am sincerely pleased to witness and follow this process," Moeller said.

With the booming development of the guitar industry, "music productivity" is continuously benefiting the people of Zheng'an County. According to statistics, the guitar industry has driven the employment of over 15000 local people and ensured the stable poverty alleviation of nearly 7000 people. In March 2020, this once deeply impoverished county achieved the goal of lifting all rural impoverished population out of poverty according to the standards of that year.

The interview is over, and the sun is setting in the west. On the way back, the reporter saw the words "Music makes life better" on the highway in Zheng'an County, which stood out in the sunlight.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the initiative of jointly building the "the Belt and Road".Over the past ten years, the lives and destinies of countless people have changed due to the "the Belt and Road Initiative".

Pay attention to the big era, as well as ordinary people. From July 24, Xinhua News Agency launched the "the Belt and Road · Zero Distance" series of internal and external linkage reports, focusing on people and events along the "the Belt and Road". Through the linkage reports of domestic and foreign branch reporters, it vividly tells the fates and common events written in the "the Belt and Road" decade.

Poster: Qin Ying, Qu Zhendong, Xu Xiaoxuan

Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform