Cultural makeover hits crescendo with renovations

Two youngsters learn to play the clarinet in Zhouwo town, Hebei province. More than 500 children from primary and middle schools are studying music in the town. Zhang Yu / China Daily

A town in Hebei has a grand plan to turn itself into the Vienna of the East

A small town in Hebei province has grand cultural plans. Zhouwo wants to turn itself into China's Vienna, the Austrian city that has been at the heart of Western classical music for 400 years.

In the West, Vienna is known as the "City of Music", and Zhouwo's leaders hope that one day their town will earn a similar title.

Zhouwo wants to become a thriving workshop for the creation of original Chinese music.

The town in scenic Wuqiang county is home to about 1,000 residents but is already a major base for the manufacture of Western musical instruments.

"You don't often see farmers in China making foreign musical instruments and exporting them overseas," says Dong Yuge, manager of Lute Music & Culture Company in Wuqiang, a southeastern county in Hebei province.

Since 2011, the company has been cooperating with the Hebei Jinyin Musical Instruments Manufacture Group, the leading company in the county, to renovate houses in Zhouwo using musical themes. Professional designers from Beijing's 798 Art District have provided advisory services for the project.

There are plans to build museums to exhibit musical instruments and venues where musicians will perform. These will strengthen the musical character of the town, says Ge Xingli, a tour guide in Zhouwo.

All the six villages of the town have formed their own bands, in which at least 40 villagers perform with musical instruments they have made.

Wandering along the town's roads, tourists can hear their practice sessions or performances.

"Sometimes the sounds of saxophones and the posters all over the walls made me feel like I was walking down a street in Europe or the United States," says Wang Yu, a tourist who visited the town last year.

The small town, which can only accommodate 200 people at one time, holds an annual music festival in May, when enthusiasts flood into the town to enjoy performances.

About 70,000 visitors came to the town during the weeklong event last year, Ge says.

"Our final goal is to turn the town into a national workshop for original music," Dong, the manager of the project, says.

To this end, the company and the county government will increase the size of the village from its current 0.8 square kilometers to 6 sq km. It will have six districts with specific functions such as demonstration and manufacturing. The village will also have high-quality recording studios.

After the development is completed, Zhouwo will be a powerful promotional vehicle for the music industry, Dong says, adding that it is expected that income from all the services offered in Zhouwo will reach 650 million yuan ($104 million).

The town is well on the way to realizing its aims, says Jia Ruifeng, a publicity official from the county government.

This year, construction started on a 320 million yuan entertainment center and museum, both of which will offer attractions for tourists who are not music fans.

The county has also started to nurture its own musically talented teenagers. The county government and the Beijing-based Lute company opened a special school in 2011 that provides professional musical education for young students.

"Residents in the town did not buy our belief in the music industry, saying the school could not develop that much," Dong, also the school president, says.

But the villagers have realized the advantages of children learning music from a young age, as last year four local students were accepted by professional music schools in Vienna. Now, more than 500 children from primary and middle schools are studying music.

"They are the future of our music industry in the county," says Dong.

Zhouwo's development model of combining an industrial foundation with tourism and education has set a good example for other areas, says Zeng Zemin, general secretary of the China Musical Instruments Association.