(New Year Goes to the Grassroots) Galloping Horses Welcome Tenglong Jilin Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritors Make Morin Flute Renewal and Trendy

　　China News Service, Songyuan, February 13th: Title: Galloping horse welcomes Tenglong, Jilin intangible cultural heritage inheritor makes matouqur new and trendy

　　China News Service reporter Guo Jia

　　Files, wood, rulers and some unnamed gadgets were scattered on the table. Two nails were driven into the wall, and a thread was pulled on it. An unpainted matouqin rod was hung on it. Looking around, there was a room on the left side of the door. The only decoration in the room hung on the wall, which was a calligraphy work that read "The Voice of the Prairie."

　　This is the studio of Bai Su Gulang, the provincial representative inheritor of the Morin Khuur making technique in Jilin Province. The furnishings are extremely simple, but the Morin Khuur made here is the favorite of many performers.

　　At the beginning of the new year, the reporter came to the studio of Bai Sugulang in Songyuan City, Jilin Province. He met the reporter wearing a white Mongolian robe and shook hands vigorously. He specially called two apprentices to "warm up the place". They were quite young and he met them when he was teaching Morin Fhuur in the community.

　　The Morin Khuur is a Chinese Mongolian stringed instrument. It is named after the horse head carved on the upper end of the piano rod. The morinqur evolved from the stringed instrument Xiqin in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was originally a wooden piano pole, with a trapezoidal speaker covered with horsehide or cowhide, two bunches of horsetails as strings, and another bunch of horsetails tied to a rattan as a bow.

Bai Su Gulang makes the Morin Khuur in his studio. (Information picture) Photo by Zhang Yao

　　Bai Sugulang said that the earliest fiddle heads were not necessarily horse heads, but also carved with animal heads and dragon heads. For this reason, he tried carving a dragon head on Morin Khuur, and it was unexpectedly loved by customers. "This is not done to coincide with the Year of the Dragon. The dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation. Adding the dragon head under the horse's head means the 'spirit of the dragon and horse', which is one of the spiritual cores of the Chinese nation."

　　"Morin fiddle not only belongs to the Mongolian people, but also to the Chinese nation, and even the whole world." This is Bai Sugulang's original intention.

　　At the age of 17, Bai Sugulang went to Songyuan City to study under a teacher. More than 30 years of dedicated study made him quite famous. The morinouqur he made has a wide range of sound, clean and full tone, melodious and rich, which can not only express the majestic feeling of thousands of horses galloping, but also the affectionate feeling of swan geese returning home.

　　Bai Sugulang divided the studio into several small rooms, a living room for guests to display the piano, a main hall for teaching classes, and one for spray painting and carpentry. The spray painting room is three steps lower than the main hall, has two dust exhaust outlets outwards, and the temperature is lower than outside. He stayed here most of the year.

　　The production process of Morin Khuur is not complicated, but the difficulty lies in its exquisiteness. The carving needs to be exquisite, and the sound needs to be even more exquisite. It’s the subtleties that reveal the real skill. It often takes a month or two to make a good piano. Bai Su Gulang and his apprentices can make about 200 Morin Khuur by hand every year. He said he dared not do more as it would affect the quality.

Bai Su Gulang shows the Morin Fhuur in his studio. (Information picture) Photo by Zhang Yao

　　The tools used by Shirasuguro are not exquisite, but more improvised inventions that are easy to use. Carving a horse head is the most important and dangerous. If you are not careful, the knife will fall off and injure your hands. He has had a total of more than ten stitches on his hands, "I am afraid that these will not make him a craftsman." He didn't care.

　　In order to promote the morinouqur, Bai Sugulang put a lot of thought into the instrument. He painted the instrument with bright colors. Some people said that he was not traditional enough or serious enough, but he bluntly said that "inheritance is not a simple copy."

　　In fact, Bai Su Gulang's Morin Khuur sells very well, especially among children. With the development of the times, there are fewer and fewer people making pianos by hand. Some people advised him to open a factory and make more pianos to sell them for more money. He shook his head and said, as a provincial representative inheritor of the Morin Qin making skills, he has no warmth. If he doesn't make the piano, the machine can't make a real work of art.

Bai Su Gulang plays "Swan Goose" in the studio. (Information picture) Photo by Zhang Yao

　　Songyuan City’s Qiangarros Mongolian Autonomous County is the “Hometown of Morin Fhuur” in China. The local Morin Fhuur culture is well inherited. Officials have organized one to two thousand people to play Morin Fur in unison on many occasions, and even set a Guinness World Record. This is Bai Su Gurang’s learning skills. One of the reasons why it took root later.

　　In recent years, Bai Sugulang has not only set up public welfare courses for Morin Fhuur training in local primary and secondary schools and vocational colleges, but also often goes to local communities to popularize the knowledge of Morin Fhuur. His performance of "Hongyan" is melodious and melodious, and many people have become associated with Morin Fouur. "My mission is to persevere." Bai Sugulang said, "If you persevere, you can achieve success." (End)