山下有高人，斫琴尘嚣外

孙佳慧

In a small courtyard home at the foot of Shaanxis Qinling Mountains， Li Jiangwei has lived in seclusion for more than three years. Sporting a grizzled beard and plain Han-style robe， the 39-year-old starts work every morning at daybreak and goes to bed with the sun. But dont mistake Li for a religious recluse or a hermetic scholar from ancient times： Hes just there to makeguqin.

A UNESCO intangible heritage item since 2003， the guqin is a seven-string zither that was one of the four refinements of the ideal Confucian man. As the Spring and Autumn Annals noted， “Where there is a gentleman， there is a zither close by.” But good guqin， like gentlemen， have grown scarce in modern times. “Many people claim to be guqin masters， but only know a few tunes. Their guqin are products from factory assembly lines; how can they generate an authentic sound？” asks Li， who is a sculptor with a degree from the Xian Academy of Fine Arts. In 2010， Li decided that the only way to explore his childhood obsession with guqin was to make his own.

In 2015， Li moved his workshop to the Qinling Mountains， so “the noise of modern industry” wouldnt disturb him. In one corner of Lis yard， a mass of fir wood piles up， product of his annual travels south to collect centuries-old timbers that are unlikely to deform or crack， and can be counted on to produce a clear and beautiful sound. In the middle of the yard， Li can be found in all seasons and weathers at his work-bench： shaping the timber， planing the wood， attaching the strings， polishing， and tuning. Usually， an entire years hard work can only produce one or two instruments—but as Li is fond of saying， a good guqin deserves the wait.