Global Times: How a deeply impoverished county in the mountains of Southwest China’s Guizhou grows into nation’s guitar manufacturing center

BEIJING, Oct. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — “I come from the mountains, with my small guitar, I teach people how to make guitars, and rely on them to get rid of poverty…” It is a folk song widely played by people in Zheng’an county, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, with locally produced guitars.

Some 7,000-kilometer away in Moscow, Russian guitarist Grigory Novikov is plucking a classical guitar from Zheng’an, revelling in the beautiful melody of a Russian classic. 

“Zheng’an guitar deepened my understanding of Chinese guitar craftsmanship and music culture,” Novikov told the Xinhua News Agency. 

The music produced by Zheng’an guitars, played by Chinese and international artists, weaves a rich narrative that illustrates how Zheng’an, once a deeply impoverished county nestled in the mountainous region of Guizhou, seized the opportunities brought by Chinese modernization and transformed into a national hub for guitar manufacturing. 

Zheng’an guitars are not only winning the hearts of audiences worldwide with their high quality and exquisite craftsmanship, but also serve as cultural ambassadors, conveying the essence of Chinese culture, the resilience of its people, and the stories of their struggles for a better life to distant corners of the globe. 

Come back to build hometown

It wasn’t until the Global Times reporter noticed the logos and slogans related to guitars prominently displayed throughout the streets of Zheng’an – including on the signboard of the county government’s service hall – that the reason behind Zheng’an’s remarkable transformation began to take shape. These logos and slogans served as constant reminders of the county’s deep-rooted connection to guitars and the local government’s unwavering commitment to fostering the guitar industry.

Located among towering mountains in Zunyi, a former revolutionary base of the CPC in northern Guizhou, Zheng’an always faced obstacles in development due to inconvenient transportation and barren lands. Even today, there is still no railway station in the county. Global Times reporter had to take a 3.5-hour bus ride from Zunyi to Zheng’an.  

Such conditions forced many people from Zheng’an to leave their hometown to seek a living elsewhere. According to Xinhua, once upon a time, a third of 660,000 residents in the county were migrant workers. 

A large number of people from Zheng’an worked in guitar-making factories in South China’s Guangdong Province – more than 50,000 in early 2010 – as the work is easy to learn and has low technical ability requirements, according to Guizhou Daily.

“There are people from Zheng’an working at every link of the guitar production chain. We are very hardworking. As long as we apply ourselves to learning, we can master all of the nearly 200 procedures to make a guitar in a year,” Liu Hongjiang, a Zheng’an businessman who has been in the guitar industry for more than 20 years, told the Global Times.     

Hardworking and smart people from Guizhou tried to start their own business in South China’s Guangdong Province, a guitar manufacturing hub in China, after mastering guitar manufacturing techniques on the assembly line in the province. 

Zheng Chuanjiu, who left Zheng’an to seek jobs in Guangdong in 1995, is one of the pioneers. He and his brother Zheng Chuanxiang founded the Shenqu musical instrument company in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, in 2007, which gradually grew into a sub-contractor for many international guitar brands.  

In 2012, with the support of the central government, Guizhou embarked on a new path of industrialization, starting to actively undertake the transfer of industries from Eastern China. 

Given this opportunity, local government officials in Zheng’an conducted a field research in Guangdong and noticed the vast team of “Zheng’an guitar craftsmen.” They thus decided to bring these guitar craftsmen back to contribute to the transformation and development of their hometown. Guitar thus became the most important engine and the strongest backing for the county. 

In 2013, together with 33 trucks of equipment and 60 workers, Zheng Chuanjiu, the writer of the folk song mentioned earlier, became the first to move his company back to Zheng’an.

“I wanted to go back and prosper together with my hometown,” Zheng said. 

Go abroad to impress the world 

Ten years later, a five-square-kilometer guitar industrial park was established in Zheng’an, which is now the hub of more than 130 guitar-related firms, covering not only guitar manufacturing, but the research and development of new materials, high-end guitar customization, as well as the production and sales of all guitar accessories. It is home to about 15,000 employees, according to the Guizhou provincial government.  

These firms together can reportedly produce more than two million guitars annually. A clustering effect is gradually occurring in the Zheng’an guitar industrial park, making the place attractive to more and more international customers.  

“In the past, when a company ran into problems, let’s say some parts of its machine broke down, the company had to go out of county to purchase replacements. This would probably lead to the suspension of operations for two to three days. But now, manufacturers can find everything related to guitar production in the industrial park, whether it’s machine parts or guitar accessories,” Liu, who now runs an instrument paint agency in the guitar industrial park, told the Global Times.  

Besides working as subcontractors for foreign guitar companies, Zheng’an guitar craftsmen are also vigorously innovating their techniques. In total, Zheng’an guitar companies have obtained 288 patents and registered 77 trademarks related to guitars, promoting an increasing number of local brands to go global. 

Zhao Jianfeng, founder of Natasha Guitars in Zheng’an, told the Global Times that traditional guitar manufacturing heavily relies on imported woods such as cedar, mahogany, and rosewood. 

To break the limits of imported materials, Natasha Music developed its own high-pressure laminate (HPL) guitar in 2018. HPL is an environmentally friendly material that is resistant to fire and water.

The company also promoted a guitar made of bamboo in 2023. The move not only changed the current situation in China where guitar manufacturing is heavily dependent on imports, but also enhanced the playing experience through innovative technologies like embedded sound cards and chips, Zhao said.  

“The guitar is a musical instrument originated in the West with a craftsmanship history of more than a hundred years. For independent Chinese brands to gain a foothold in global competition, we must focus on improving quality and highlighting our unique characteristics,” Zhao said.

Zhao is not alone on the road to seeking and creating the “unique characteristic” of Zheng’an guitars. 

In a quiet workshop in the guitar industrial park, guitar master Zheng Weiyi works with his team to incorporate Chinese culture into guitar-making. They have integrated elements such as the silver ornaments of Miao ethic group, one of the largest ethnic minorities in southwest China, into guitar designs, which have been well received by buyers worldwide.

In 2023, his workshop produced a total of 172 guitars worth nearly 10 million yuan. The workshop’s handcrafted guitars are collected by buyers from around the world, including the US, Germany, and Spain. 

As these guitars are sold overseas, China’s Miao culture is also stepping out into the world, Zhang believes. Zhang and his team are now working to integrate more traditional techniques such as wax dyeing and Miao embroidery into guitar manufacturing.

March forward to better life 

A decade ago, a guitar industry was built in Zheng’an from the scratch. A decade later, the industry not only has grown into an economic pillar of Zheng’an, but has reshaped various aspects of the local society, evolving into a deeply rooted local culture. 

“It is the booming guitar industry that encourages me to come back Zheng’an instead of staying in the big city after graduation from college. It is the case for many other youth. Thanks to the industry, more and more people from Zheng’an now come back home to live together with and take care of their children and parents while earning enough money. Living a happy and satisfied life is the greatest expectation of ordinary people,” Wei Linfei, director of the executive department of Natasha Music, told the Global Times.

In the long run, the Zheng’an government’s ambition is to view the guitar industry as the starting point from which it can continue to expand the industrial ecosystem combining industry, culture and tourism, in order to unleash tremendous musical productivity and build a guitar cultural center. 

Many guitar-related tourism attractions have been established in Zheng’an, including a guitar square, a guitar-themed street, and a guitar museum. Visitors can feel free to visit factories in the guitar industrial park to observe guitar manufacturing process and communicate with workers. 

The local authorities have also invited renowned international guitarists to come to Zheng’an to promote the development of local guitar culture. In 2018, Swedish guitarist Johannes Möller became the ambassador of Zheng’an guitars at the invitation of the local government.

The story of Zheng’an guitars epitomizes the determination and bravery of the Chinese people as they strive for a better life, regardless of the challenges they face. 

Similar narratives have unfolded across the country over the past 75 years in regions such as Yunnan, Xizang, and Shaanxi. These stories illustrate how the aspirations of ordinary individuals are intricately woven into the fabric of national growth. 

Initially, many might have doubted that farmers from a remote mountainous county could produce high-quality guitars. However, the people of Zheng’an have demonstrated that their hard work and resilient spirit are precisely what enable them to create finely crafted products like guitars.

With unwavering confidence, the people of Zheng’an continue to compose their own concerto of joyful lives through their craft, looking toward a bright future. More and more stories like that in Zheng’an are emerging in China, demonstrating that the country and its people are marching forward toward the Chinese modernization with high spirits.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202410/1320975.shtml

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SOURCE Global Times