Sometimes abrupt, sometimes soothing. In the Douyin live broadcast room, the girl lowered her eyes and focused on the erhu in her hand. After the exciting melody gradually slowed down, the girl suddenly pressed a glide note with her left hand, and raised her right hand quickly, only pushing but not pulling, imitating a loud horse neighing with trembling bow technique.

During the lunch break on weekdays, in the Douyin live broadcast room, nearly a thousand people are listening to Xiong Xiwen's classic song "Horse Racing" with the erhu.

"Classic is good", "Let the son who is learning erhu come to watch the next live broadcast"... At the end of the song, the comments and gifts from netizens are like flowers thrown to the center of the stage, constantly brushing out in the live broadcast room. Live broadcasting has become Xiong Xiwen's daily routine. In the past two years, she has gained 550,000 followers and 1.57 million likes on Douyin. The huge income brought by the live broadcast reward also allows her to continue her three erhu careers without distractions - while broadcasting, leading the school band, and teaching a group of uncles and aunts in their seventies in the cultural center.

Befriended Erhu for 20 years, from the village market into the live broadcast room

In Jiaoqiao Town, Nanchang City, nearly 20 years ago, in the village where Xiong Xiwen was born, the villagers' square was surrounded by water every night. Gongs, bowls, hus, cymbals, and drums sounded throughout the night. This was the most popular local opera troupe performing "Nanchang Tea Picking Opera". Four-year-old Xiong Xiwen squeezed in front of the crowd and stared at his grandfather, who was the band's leader and the main person in charge of the troupe. Countless lively nights, the little girl watched her grandfather's sweaty and incomparably carefree performance, and the strings in her heart fluctuated.

In the summer of 1996, my grandfather died and left the erhu to Xiong Xiwen. Xiong Xiwen, who was less than five years old, seemed to have taken over the inheritance and officially started his study of Erhu. This road was not smooth. At that time, the family's financial situation plummeted due to the failure of the investment. The younger brother was forced to live with his grandmother, and Xiong Xiwen's piano learning expenses also became a burden. The next three years were the most difficult period of her childhood learning the piano. His parents set up a stall in the village street market, and Xiong Xiwen, who was in elementary school, always sat on the small bench behind the stall and practiced erhu silently.

Until the economic situation at home gradually improved, Xiong Xiwen began to participate in activities such as grade examinations, competitions, and cultural performances again. In 2011, she was successfully admitted to the Folk Music Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she continued her professional erhu studies under the tutelage of erhu performer Professor Chen Chunyuan.

Xiong Xiwen, who played erhu in childhood, and "Xiwen pulling erhu" on Douyin today

After more than 20 years of study and love, Erhu has become a part of Xiong Xiwen's life. In the live broadcast room of the Douyin account "Xiwen La Erhu", she deliberately set the end time of each live broadcast at 13:14. "A lifetime," she said, symbolized her relationship with the erhu.

Bringing a student orchestra, teaching 70-year-olds, inheriting Erhu for all ages

Xiong Xiwen's job is to be the deputy head of the Chinese Orchestra at a local academy. In the orchestra, she not only has to teach erhu lessons to students majoring in folk music, but also participates in rehearsal, performance, and school affairs.

Out of her love for erhu, she also taught two batches of zero-based students outside of her own job.

One of the students is a group of uncles and aunts from the Nanchang Cultural Center. In the eyes of the music teacher, they are not easy to lead. After the live broadcast every day, Xiong Xiwen will rush over to make up a lunch in a hurry. The 70-year-old student is very old, and he needs to go back three times for each class, and the one-way trip takes an hour and a half. Even so, they have followed Mr. Xiong to study for a year, from the zero basic class to today's advanced class.

Xiong Xiwen said frankly, "The reaction and memory of the elderly will indeed be worse, and the dexterity of the bow and the proficiency of the fingers will progress slowly. But love is more important. Every time I play a new song, I will They will be conquered bit by bit with them.”

Nanchang Cultural Center, students of the senior class who follow Xiong Xiwen to learn Erhu

When Xiong Xiwen talked about the achievements of this "advanced class", he couldn't stop talking. She recalled that at the community event on May 1 last year, she and the aunts on the left and right were wearing cheongsams; on the other side, there were several uncles in suits and ties. Ten people lined up horizontally, with erhu on their legs, in a professional posture, and performed the song "Aobao Meeting" to the audience in front of several circles.

Xiong Xiwen said that for this performance, he took the senior class to practice for several months before realizing this "gorgeous debut". At that time, the third old man on her left didn't have a suit, and he didn't borrow it in the end, so he had to buy a fake collar, which was stuck on the outside of the black sweater. And because of his debut, the old man was so nervous that his hands and feet were shaking exaggeratedly.

Speaking of this, Xiong Xiwen giggled, but was quite proud, "Our performance was very successful. We practiced for this song for a long time, and there was nothing wrong with everyone on the day of the performance."

In addition to the senior class, Xiong Xiwen also teaches children's classes in the age group of 6 to 12 at the Nanchang Cultural Center on weekends. "Children's control is relatively poor, and they tend to be noisy in class. They need to be very patient to teach the movements again and again."

Although I work in the orchestra and the cultural center every day, the income of these two jobs is not high. Xiong Xiwen said frankly that compared with other industries, it has not been easy to find employment in the folk music industry over the years: "Learning erhu, you just learn erhu, and the options are very narrow." Even so, she never thought about giving up. These careers related to the popularization and inheritance of Erhu made her feel fulfilled.

The live broadcast reward supports three erhu careers, and will carry the love to the end

In 2019, Xiong Xiwen accidentally came into contact with Douyin. At the beginning, she just released short video works of La Erhu one after another, and gradually accumulated some fans. Until a fan suggested her in the comments: It's better to live broadcast, so that everyone can see what you are like pulling the erhu more vividly! In this way, during the epidemic in 2020, Xiong Xiwen started the live broadcast with the idea of trying it out.

Now, every Sunday to Friday at 10 am, Xiong Xiwen will start the live broadcast regularly. In addition to erhu classics such as "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", she will also play red and old songs such as "Coral Ode" and "Daughter's Love". Erhu's wonderful reaction in Xiong Xiwen's hands made more and more people gather in the live broadcast room. Many people asked for songs in the message, wanting to see what it would be like to play a familiar song with the erhu. Others asked about the repertoire and techniques, "How long does it take Erquan Yinyue to practice to pull it?" "How should I practice the empty strings? I can't handle it well."

In two years, Xiong Xiwen has broadcast more than 360 times on Douyin, and has accumulated nearly 20 million views.

The reward income brought by live broadcasts has far exceeded the income of their own work. But Xiong Xiwen said that he never thought about giving up the school orchestra, the senior class and the children's class. On the contrary, the reward income from Douyin live broadcast gave her more confidence to continue her offline work.

And the savings of the past two years have also given Xiong Xiwen more energy to develop new careers. She produced original music; cataloged erhu classics into teaching videos; set up a Douyin store to sell all kinds of erhu. It seems that she wants to carry out everything related to the erhu to the end. After all, her name is "Xiwen La Erhu", which is what she loves and is good at.