Former Timber Merchant Revives Ancient Art

In Jianghan district of Wuhan, Hubei province, Wu Youquan, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of traditional guqin making, has spent over two decades transforming himself from a timber merchant into a master luthier, a maker of stringed instruments.

Born in 1972 in Tuanfeng, Hubei, the craftsman has adhered to the philosophy of “approaching guqin making with the attitude of creating art”, becoming a pioneer in reviving the long-lost technique of crafting silk-stringed Chinese parasol-wood guqin.

The guqin is a traditional Chinese plucked string instrument with a history of over three thousand years. It is also known as the “seven-stringed zither” and symbolizes the essence of ancient Chinese literati and scholars.