One morning in June, in an erhu studio in the first district of Zhaohui, He Dayuan was busy on the workbench wearing reading glasses and a black apron. I saw a rectangular piece of mahogany fixed on the stage. Lao He first pressed the carved chisel against the wood, and held a short axe in the other hand, and tapped the carved chisel with the face of the axe.

One side is carved, and then another side, Lao He occasionally stops to look at the drawings on the side, and then repeats the same kung fu, one knife, two knives, three knives... "Boom, boom, boom", accompanied by metal collisions. Crisp sound, sawdust fell a little bit.

Slowly, the shape began to take shape, he lifted the wood, adjusted his glasses, and looked at it from far and near.

From woodcarving to erhu, a childhood dream is over half a hundred yuan

He Dayuan's studio is small, about ten square meters. Erhu and Yuehu are neatly hung on the wall, surrounded by some tools, many of which are not common.

There is a sign hanging on the window of the studio, which reads: Sanjiang Qinyi He Dayuan Studio, Er (Yue) Hu making, selling, processing, accessories, repairing and so on.

At noon, someone came to the door.

"Master He, how is my erhu doing? I'll stop by today to see." Lao Xie is in his 60s this year, and usually likes to go to the West Lake to play erhu. For erhu, Lao Xie is a little picky: "Many erhus on the market are uniformly made by factories, and machine-made ones are not as good as hand-made ones." Set a erhu.

"There are still some places that need to be polished. You can pick it up in two days, and you will be satisfied." He Dayuan said with a smile.

"Master He has a good foundation and understands the tone and materials. You are an expert. I believe in you." Lao Xie laughed too hard.

He Dayuan is 79 years old this year, and many old friends who "know how to do it" know him. What many people don't know is that he actually became a monk halfway through. He Dayuan's hometown is in Shengzhou, Shaoxing. He has three brothers, and he is the third oldest. When he was 3 years old, he suffered from osteomyelitis and developed a high fever. At that time, the conditions at home were not good and there was no money for medical treatment. Since then, he had become disabled. His right leg was shorter than his left, and he walked with a limp.

After graduating from junior high school, the family arranged for He Dayuan to be a woodcarving apprentice, which was a popular business at the time. Over the years, He Dayuan has become a well-known woodcarver master, and he is very handy in making wooden craft furniture. At the age of 45, He Dayuan was spotted by a Guangdong furniture factory owner and went to Guangdong to do woodcarving.

There is a piano shop near Guangdong Hongmu Furniture Factory. He Dayuan passes by there every day for work, and occasionally goes in for a stroll. "My second brother can play the erhu. When I was a child, I often squatted behind him and listened to it. I liked it myself." With his childhood hobby, He Dayuan and the owner of the piano store became friends. For a period of time, He Dayuan worked in a furniture factory to do woodcarving during the day, and at night he went to the piano shop to help and carve on the piano.

The work of making a qin is much more delicate than making furniture, and He Dayuan also has times when he hits a wall. "The strength is a little bigger, the carving is too high, and the strength is small and it doesn't look like it." He Dayuan carefully and repeatedly tried every qin. At the age of 55, he simply changed careers and became a piano master, and making erhu and Yuehu became his specialty.

A studio opens in a newsstand

Five years later, He Dayuan retired, first returned to his hometown in Shengzhou, and later came to Hangzhou with his children.

He Dayuan likes to wander around a park by the West Lake, bring his own erhu, sit by the lake and play a few songs. In the distance is the glistening lake light, and the ear is the sweet sound of the piano. Some erhu "old players" saw He Dayuan's professionalism, and when he looked at his piano, it was different from others. After the conversation, someone suggested: "Old He, it's too rare for you to have this skill, you can open a shop."

He Dayuan was a little moved, and asked the children's opinions, and the children were very supportive.

After the discussion, He Dayuan decided to find a store in the urban area, which does not need to be too large. Soon, he took a fancy to a newsstand at the entrance of Lianhua Supermarket on Hedong Road, paid an annual rent of 8,500 yuan, and went to Dongyang, Ningbo and other places to buy some mahogany materials and all kinds of tools.

On October 1, 2019, He Dayuan's studio opened. This year, he was 75 years old.

The studio is not big, except for some newspapers and magazines, which are full of various erhu and Yuehu. Every morning at 7 o'clock, He Dayuan set off from his son's house in Xiaoshan, and took several bus trips to the studio. After 4 o'clock in the afternoon, he closed the door and took the bus home.

It is rare to see a studio full of erhus, and passers-by often stop by. In his spare time, He Dayuan is happy to introduce to others, "This is Yuehu used to sing Yue opera, this is Zhonghu, these are erhu..." Some people also glanced at each other. In the middle, I couldn't wait to take it and pull it a few times, "This one is a bit heavy, how much does it sell?" "If you like it after you try it, it depends on whether you like it or not." He Dayuan laughed heartily. There are also some old guys who come to him to repair the erhu and replace the small accessories, and He Dayuan enjoys it.

Concentrating on making pianos is only for hobbies and making intangible cultural heritage projects alive and passing on

Last summer, due to urban planning, there was no longer a newsstand in the original location, so He Dayuan had to move out first.

Do you want to keep doing it? At the beginning, He Dayuan was a little embarrassed: finding a new location was time-consuming and laborious, and he might not be able to find a satisfactory one for a while. Until one day, the staff of the Liyuan Community of Zhaohui Street contacted He Dayuan and expressed their willingness to give him the original Jinghu Studio in the community for free as a studio. The facilities are complete and clean. He Dayuan was very happy.

In January this year, He Dayuan's studio reopened in Liyuan Community, and the surrounding residents also came to cheer him on.

He Dayuan is very familiar with the achievements in the studio. He is most satisfied with the dragon head on Yuehu, carved in mahogany, which is vivid and stylish. In He Dayuan's eyes, good wood is precious and should not be wasted.

In addition to wood, some special materials are also used to make erhu, such as snake skin for masking. Different snake skins make different sounds. "I usually only use the skin on the back of the snake. This kind of skin has fine scales, regular lines, toughness, and a better sound." He Dayuan said that making a pair of erhu requires cutting materials, setting samples, carving, etc. Grinding, installation, skinning, audition, etc., can take up to ten days at the earliest, and some even take longer.

He Dayuan can make up to 30 erhus a year, each priced at around 1,300 yuan, and the most expensive one is priced at around 14,000 yuan, which is not too expensive in the eyes of experts. "I'm getting older, just to have fun, I like it, not to make money." He Dayuan said.

In October 2018, He Dayuan was rated as the representative inheritor of Shengzhou intangible cultural heritage "Yuehu Making Skills". Today, only He Dayuan is busy in the studio. He admits that if he has the opportunity, he still hopes to bring an apprentice to pass on this craft. "This craft requires meditation and interest to learn it well. The cost of doing erhu is also high, and I can’t make much money, and now there are fewer people learning it, so I can understand it.”

"But the national musical instrument will not disappear, and the culture will not be interrupted. People who like it will always like it. If someone wants to learn, I am willing to teach it myself." He Dayuan said.