he sad and sonorous sound of the erhu, the musical instrument that epitomizes Chinese music, is weathering an attack from nature lovers who fear its snake skin covered sound box is driving the mighty python into extinction.
Favorably compared to the violin, the erhu is revered in China for its natural sound and has long been viewed as the instrument that best reflects the human voice, most notably a weeping lady.
Countless pieces of music, mostly sad and melancholy, have been written for the long-necked two-stringed instrument, played with a horsehair bow and boasting a more than 1,000 year history.
PHOTO: AFP
"The most important part of the erhu is the python skin, the reverberations of the skin give the erhu its unique sound," said Yang Youlin, manager of the Beijing Music Book Store.
"Without the python skin, an erhu is not an erhu. Snake skin, sheep skin, wood, won't do."
Even the cost of an erhu, which range up to 8,000 yuan (US$1,000), depends on what part of the python is used for the sound box membrane, with seasoned erhu players preferring the belly side of the snake near the tail, Yang said.
PHOTO: AFP
"A lot of factors go into the sound -- the age of the snake, the size and the uniformity of the scales and the thickness of the skin are all important," Yang said.
The problem is that with China's economy booming, more and more people are buying and learning to play the instrument.
China's opening up to the West has also ensured that an increasing number of overseas fans, especially in Japan and Singapore, are also buying the instrument.
Other instruments, like the sanxian, a three stringed plucked instrument, also uses a python skinned sound box, while python skins have long been used for Chinese drums and tambourines.
The nation's growing demand for python is further stepping up competition internationally where python skins are valued in the usual reptilian fare of purses, wallets, jackets, boots, belts and bags.
"The python has been nearly extinct in China in the wild since the 1980s and much of this is because of the demand for python skins in the music industry," said Xu Hongfa, a wildlife trade expert for TRAFFIC East Asia, a group that monitors the trafficking in endangered species.
"Since then, the wild populations in Southeast Asia have begun to fall and the smuggling of python skins from Southeast Asia into China has grown."
A relish for python meat in southern China, he said, has also played a role in the demise of the snake that thrives in a jungle setting and can grow to up to 6m long.
After ratifying the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), China passed its Law on the Protection of Endangered Species in 1988, effectively making the unlicensed use and trade in pythons illegal, Xu said.
But implementation of the law has not been easy, prompting TRAFFIC East Asia and other environmental groups to work with the State Forestry Administration to set up a certification process between python skin sellers in Southeast Asia and musical instrument factories in China.
New regulations that went into effect on Jan. 1 also require that all erhus have a certificate from the administration, which certify that the erhu python skin is not made with wild pythons, but from farm-raised pythons, he said.
Individuals are now only allowed to take two erhus out of China when travelling, while commercial buyers also need additional export certificates.
"The situation was getting out of hand, so the government had to do something," said Feng Yuankai, spokesman for the China Musical Instrument Association.
"Basically the manufacturers have supported and embraced the new policy as a way to maintain a sustainable industry, the certification also means that they are legally trading in python skins, which was not the case before the new regulations."
In 2003, China's nearly 100 erhu manufacturing enterprises used some 30,000 python skins to produce about 400,000 erhus, with production expected to continue rising with growing international demand, Feng said.
"This is a 1,000-year-old tradition in China, so at first I think that the manufacturers were not too happy about the new policy," said TRAFFIC East Asia's Hu.
"The new regulations have resulted in the price of python skin rising by almost 100 percent, but now the manufacturers are finding that they can raise the price of their erhu as well, which I think they like."
This month the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) announced a new policy ostensibly aimed at influencing the upcoming presidential election. A top-notch Voice of America (VOA) report observed “China launched a series of influence campaigns against Taiwan last week, unveiling a plan to promote integrated development across the Taiwan Strait.” The plan, a “demonstration zone,” offers incentives for Taiwanese to live, work and invest in Fujian Province, across the Strait from Taiwan, along with supplies of water, electricity and gas. Using cooperative zones to poach technology and influence Taiwanese is an old plan that has appeared in various
While participating in outrigger canoe activities in Hawaii, Yvonne Jiann (江伊茉) often heard indigenous locals say that their ancestors came from Taiwan. “I didn’t really understand why,” the long-time US resident tells the Taipei Times. Growing up in Taipei, she knew little about indigenous culture. “Only when I returned to Taiwan did I learn about our shared Austronesian cultural background and saw the similarities.” Jiann visited Taiwan just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down international travel. Unable to leave and missing her canoe family across the Pacific Ocean, she started the Taiwan Outrigger Canoe Club (TOCC) and began researching how
SEPT. 25 to OCT. 1 Joyce McMillan was greatly moved by the pleas of the Taiwanese pastor and doctor who preached at her church in the summer of 1954. Hsieh Wei (謝緯) had just completed his medical residency in Buffalo, New York and stopped by Berkeley to raise funds and recruit staff for the tuberculosis treatment center the Presbyterian Church planned to open in his hometown of Puli, Nantou County. McMillan, who was a nursing aide, had the dream of being an overseas missionary since she was 7 years old. She also had a close friend die of tuberculosis. She expressed
Small things can mean a lot, and all revolutions start somewhere. So it is that the humble pocket, a repository for small things and once a minor consideration in clothes design, has become big news. A growing movement decrying the lack of proper pockets in women’s clothing has begun to find disciples in the world of high fashion, as well as among mainstream chains. A new study of the feminist question of pockets, published on Sept. 14, has already made a sizeable impact, despite the modest aims of the author, American academic Hannah Carlson. “I was very careful to make each chapter
RSS