Weifang Daily News from Weifang Rongmedia News On March 6, a matouqin concert was held in the square in front of the Weifang Red Memory Museum in Yima Road Community, Fangcheng Street, Fangzi District. Residents offered an auditory feast.

Nanting Bai (second from right) plays with the community band. He came to Weifang from the grassland alone, just to spread the intangible cultural heritage.

At 9:00 a.m. that day, the concert started on time. The majestic "My Motherland" by young matouqin performer Bai Nanding brought the audience into the unique and beautiful melody of matouqin. In the applause, another song "Four Seasons Prairie" made everyone feel the beauty of the changing seasons of the grassland. During the interval between the performances, Nanting Bai and the community orchestra performed the song "Sky Edge" together and exchanged musical instruments. Finally, at the request of the audience, a song "Swan Geese" pushed the event to a climax.

Bai Nanding, who graduated from Qi Baoligao International Matouqin Academy, has successively studied with several famous Matouqin players. Bai Nanding said that Matouqin was included in China's first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists in 2006. He came to Weifang from Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2019, and founded Matouqin Learning Studio, hoping to make this intangible cultural heritage a reality. The cultural heritage continues to be passed on, and more people like the matouqin.

Exquisite matouqin. Heard the "Voice of the Prairie" at the door.

Bai Nanting said that the matouqin is a Mongolian stringed instrument. Matouqin has a long history and evolved from the stringed instrument Xiqin in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Matouqin is a two-stringed stringed instrument with a trapezoidal body and a handle carved into the shape of a horse's head. Matouqin is called "Chao'er" in Mongolian. The body is made of wood, about 1 meter long, with two strings, the resonance box is trapezoidal, the sound is round, the low back is gentle, and the volume is weak. According to legend, a shepherd made a two-string qin in order to miss the pony, using its leg bone as a column, skull as a tube, and tail hair as a bowstring, and carved a horse head in the shape of a pony and mounted it on the top of the qin handle, hence the name.

Li Hongxia, Secretary of Yima Road Community, Fangcheng Street, Fangzi District and Director of the Neighborhood Committee, said that the concert played classic red songs, combining national culture with red culture. You can listen to the melody from the depths of the grassland and feel the happy life of the grassland people riding horses. The residents who participated in the activity were full of praise.