Mission: Save vanishing music of vinyl records

Zhongkehuijin Digital Technology Ltd. founder Xiong Zhiyuan at his laboratory in Beijing. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

While most people await the latest songs, Xiong Zhiyuan looks out for the old.

His office, located inside the former residence of Yihui, or Prince Fu of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), is unknown to many of his neighbors.

Yet it draws visits from directors of established universities and national organizations like the Central Conservatory of Music and the National Library of China. They bring large numbers of century-old vinyl records, CDs and tapes to Xiong, whose company can help repair, protect and digitalize the old and delicate sounds.

On a recent hazy afternoon, Xiong walks into a room next to his office, where a vinyl record of famous Peking Opera artist Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) is playing on a gramophone-like machine.

Three engineers from his company, Zhongkehuijin Digital Technology Ltd., are busy working with a record-cleaning machine, a static-electricity eliminator and several computers. Xiong calls the room a laboratory, where broken records are fixed and saved.

During the past three years, the team has been saving all the songs of Peking Opera master Mei, which they have collected from institutions and private collections both at home and abroad, including from Mei Baojiu, Mei Lanfang's youngest son who is himself a prominent Peking opera singer.

In September, Xiong displayed 30 vinyl records at the Beijing International Book Festival.

They contain all the songs the late master performed from 1920 to 1960, including Feng Huan Chao (Return of the Phoenix to the Nest) and Mulan Cong Jun (Hua Mulan Joins the Army).

When the music of the classic Peking Opera work, Farewell My Concubine, which was performed by Mei Lanfang in 1931, was played at the book festival, it drew an audience of more than 2,000.

The music was featured in the popular Chen Kaige movie with the same title, starring the late Hong Kong film actor Leslie Cheung.

"It was a sacred moment for me, to have those old songs heard by today's audience. It was a rebirth for the old songs and showed respect to the great artists," says Xiong, 34, who is from Yiyang, Hunan province, and graduated with a master's degree of cultural industry management from Communication University of China.

An antique collector and investor, Xiong is interested in "old stuff". About five years ago, when he saw piles of old vinyl records stored on shelves in a basement room of a library: broken, mildewed, covered by layers of dust, and long forgotten, Xiong was shocked and sad.

"I didn't know how many records there were in the room. Some of them were tagged with performers' names while some were not. The value of those vinyl records is in the artists' performances. If they cannot be played any more, we will lose those priceless sounds forever," recalls Xiong.

It was then that he decided to make restoring old music his business.

He sold some of his antiques and even his house to start a company to restore old sounds - an idea that was in its infancy in China then.

So far, Xiong's team has restored more than 20,000 songs and musical works from renowned Chinese musicians, including those of the late composers Xian Xinghai (1905-1945), Nie Er (1912-1935), and established guzheng (Chinese plucked zither) player Yang Xiuming, who is now 80 years old.

"It's not just nostalgia," says Li Kun, a 26-year-old sound engineer in Xiong's company.

"There are many stories behind every record. We want to let people know how vinyl is supposed to sound like and what great art we had, but which we have forgotten today."

Aaron Baumgartner, 30, a German who came to China to finish his master's degree in intercultural studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, has worked as an intern at Xiong's company the past year.

"My role is to research how musical heritage is conserved and protected abroad and what methods and technologies are involved," Baumgartner says.

"I am convinced that the Chinese awareness of musical heritage protection is growing rapidly and hopefully keeps pace with the Chinese economy."

China Record Corporation, the oldest and largest national record company, started a project to digitalize old Chinese vinyl records two years ago, People's Daily reported. Nearly 180,000 recordings are lined up to be saved, including the speeches by two of New China's founding fathers, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.

"My dream is to build an online database that has all the Chinese musical works from the past century," Xiong says.

"I hope the Chinese audience, especially the younger generation, can appreciate the history."