Recently, in a studio in the old city area, luthier Lu Ding was making guqin with meticulous attention to detail.
Lu Ding is a representative inheritor of the guqin-making craftsmanship, which is an intangible cultural heritage item. He has been very interested in traditional culture and folk music since childhood. After graduating from university, he sought out many teachers to learn the skills of guqin-making.
“The guqin may seem simple, but in fact, it is rather complicated to make. From the initial selection of materials to the final stringing, dozens of procedures are required,” Lu Ding introduced. A good guqin is quite rare, and its production cycle is long. He said that playing the guqin is an art, while making the guqin is a sentiment. This sentiment cannot be replaced by any mechanized production. Instead, it requires meticulous carving with one’s hands and careful savoring with one’s heart.
What craftsmanship and skills create is not just the guqin, but also inheritance. Besides making guqin, Lu Ding has enabled more people to know about and fall in love with the guqin through taking on apprentices and giving lectures, thus passing on traditional Chinese culture.
