Culture
15:09, 02-Oct-2017
Majority of world's violins are made by artisans in Chinese village
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Over 80 percent of the instruments in the violin family sold on the international market are made in Queshan County, in central China's Henan Province.
The violin artisans in county make 40 percent of the string instruments in China and over 70 percent of the middle-end and high-end instruments that eventually find their way overseas.
"Today, one out of the two high-end violins produced on earth is made in Queshan," said 49-year-old violin maker Chen Mingzhong, who has worked in the trade for 17 years.
The business of violin making started booming in Beijing in the 1980s, attracting migrants to work in the trade, most of them from Queshan. The rising cost of living in the big city eventually led them to return to their villages to start their own businesses.
There are over 130 master violin makers in Queshan, with over 2000 employees in the workshops.