Rows of new violins are laid out in Huangqiao town. [Photo/WeChat account: txfabu]
Huangqiao town in Taixing city, East China's Jiangsu province, has known fame over the years for its iconic Huangqiao sesame cake. But the town has another golden card, as capital of China's violin industry, with a massive one-third of the world's violins produced there every year.
In the early 1960s, violin factories emerged successively in Beijing, Shanghai and other places and several Huangqiao people who made pianos in Shanghai returned to their hometown to open accessory factories.
From this small start, a number of musical instrument manufacturers of different sizes then set up shops in Huangqiao town. Later, a complete industry supply chain of raw materials, accessories manufacturing, whole violin assembly and sales services was established.
Nowadays, the town is home to more than 220 musical instrument production and support enterprises, with an annual output of 1 million violins, 2 million guitars, 5,500 pianos and over 1.1 million sets of various musical instrument accessories.
They are exported to 96 countries and regions, with an annual output value of over 2 billion yuan ($280.4 million).
"The production of a violin has hundreds of processes, each of which may affect the sound quality," said Xu Xiaofeng, a senior violin maker in Huangqiao town.
Xu added that he often spends a month and a half polishing a violin and developing new materials to achieve better sound quality.