Lin Wangguo, the inheritor of Zhangpu Daguangxian production skills, has been like a day for more than 20 years, just for——

Sharpening the instrument

Lin Wangguo repeatedly compared with a pencil, and measured the exact position of the piano axis on the piano bar.

Zhangpu Daguangxian production skills were selected into the eighth batch of representative projects of county-level intangible cultural heritage. Daguangxian, also known as Youxian and Lantou, is one of the main musical instruments for folk operas such as Minnan Xiang Opera, Bamboo Circus, Taiwan Gezi Opera, etc.

The author came to a folk musical instrument family workshop located in Kangzhuang Village, Guanxun Town, Zhangpu County. The workshop was founded by Lin Wangguo, the inheritor of Daguangxian production skills. Born in 1974, Lin Wangguo has been interested in Xiang Opera and Bamboo Circus since he was a child. In 1992, Lin Wangguo's parents sent him to a folk amateur troupe to study and perform. In this regard, it opened the door for him to play folk musical instruments.

After joining the troupe, Lin Wangguo not only learned to sing, but also learned to play musical instruments, and gradually came into contact with the traditional instruments of southern Fujian such as the Daguangxian, the Xiaoguangxian, and the five-tone bamboo drum. Due to the difficult family conditions at that time, he could not afford a decent musical instrument, so he wanted to make his own musical instrument.

Since 1993, Lin Wangguo has devoted himself to the production of musical instruments, and has successively learned the production of various musical instruments from many old artists in Longhai and Zhangzhou. Among many folk musical instruments, he is particularly good at and likes the production skills of Daguangxian. He has been doing it for more than 20 years until he developed it into his own business and has a good reputation in the industry.

"The Daguang String is composed of a piano barrel, a piano rod, a piano shaft, a piano string, a piano bow, etc. Its production process is not complicated. One can be made by hand in a day, and five or six can be made a day by relying on machinery and equipment." According to Lin Wangguo, with the continuous updating of machinery and equipment, the Daguang strings made by machines are basically the same as the hand-made Daguang strings in terms of sound effects and tones, and their appearance is more delicate and beautiful, and they are also well received by the audience. Loved by wide stringed instrument lovers. However, it is not easy to make an excellent large-scale string.

In the production of Daguangxian, the selection of materials is a crucial part. The bamboo heads, orchids, palm trees, etc. used in Daguangxian are taken from barren mountains and ridges, and it is rare to find high-quality raw materials. Lin Wangguo often leads his sons and apprentices up the mountain to find materials. He believes that to learn the craftsmanship of Daguangxian well, it is indispensable to find materials, and it is the foundation of learning this craft. Sometimes, in order to obtain a good material, he has to travel all over the country.

Lin Wangguo firmly believes that Seiko produces meticulous work. Every time he made a large-scale string, he had to tune it repeatedly, dozens of times, hundreds of times, without getting tired of it. "The pronunciation of Daguangxian is very distinctive, and its sound quality is relatively rich, dull, and desolate. A good Daguangxian can pull out the joys, sorrows, joys and sorrows of the world as soon as it is pulled."

The Daguangxian produced by Lin Wangguo has participated in the provincial and municipal youth musical instrument group competitions, the performance of "Baby Baby" and other operas performed by the Jinjing Festival, and has won many awards. He has also been invited to participate in various Xiang Opera inheritance and artistic exchange seminars for many times. Today, Lin Wangguo's Daguang strings are even exported to overseas markets such as Singapore and Malaysia, and more and more knowledgeable people come to order from afar.

"In the past few years, some people have come to learn from the apprentices, but after watching it for a few days, most of the apprentices thought that the production was very simple and there was nothing to learn, so they went back to their homes, and there was no more." He mentioned the production skills of Daguangxian. Inheritance, Lin Wangguo is a little regretful. Over the years, he has devoted himself to cultivating a group of outstanding successors to the production of Daguangxian. In order to promote the production skills of Daguangxian, improve its popularity, and protect and inherit the skills, since 2017, Lin Wangguo has been actively applying for intangible cultural heritage projects until the review and approval this year. He is well aware of the mission of this assessment - to improve and innovate on the basis of inheriting the excellent skills of the predecessors, and let them pass on from generation to generation.

"To do a good job in the inheritance and relay of this skill, the key is to make this skill special and refined. Good works will naturally attract more people to pay attention and learn. As for the issue of sales, we are not worried at present." Lin Wang said confidently. Although affected by the epidemic in the first half of the year, Lin Wangguo did not have many orders for Daguangxian, but since the second half of the year, thousands of orders have been thrown to him.