Category

Category: Local Culture, Music and Art Forms

Description of Our Community

         Local community” describes Changhua! Located in central Taiwan, Changhua is bounded by the Bagua Mountains to the east to

connect Nantou County, to the west by the Taiwan Strait, to the south by

Zhuoshui River and Yunlin County, and to the north by Wuxi and Taichung

City. Later, Emperor Yongzheng gave the name Changhua, which means “

to establish a school and to promote elegance.” Since then, “Changhua”

was used as the name of the county. Ming-shun Tu, the founder of “The

Erhuist,” was a native of Changhua. Mr. Tu started playing the Erhu

because his grandfather had one, and he played it out of curiosity, which

aroused his interest. Later, Mr. Tu successfully explored the techniques of

making the Erhu by himself, and he entered the world of Erhu making in

2000. “The Erhuist” is located in Puxin Township (Changhua). There are

many Erhus, tables, and chairs in the workshop, most of which are made of

wood. The interior decoration and furnishings are eye-catching and make

every visitor feel the traditional art of the extraordinary.

  Young people from our generation have gradually become unaware of the inheritance of Erhu. Mr. Tu opened an Erhu-making class. He also went

to various schools to give lectures and promote Erhu playing, as well as

donated many Erhus to other schools, so that students in schools had the

opportunity to get in touch with the Erhu, understand the Erhu, and prevent

the traditional culture from being lost.

   The school is equipped with approximately 32 computers, which are

available to all students in the school for use. The school’s network

bandwidth is 1G.Internet in each student's home.

  In this project, division of labor and cooperation are very important. It

was unideal that only one person was responsible for thinking. It was

important for everyone to express his/her thoughts and put them into

practical actions. We had no experience in making webpages. Therefore,

all the processes were very strange to us. We didn’t know what we were

supposed to do and what we were capable of.

  During the interview, Mr. Tu told the story of the notepaper, which

enabled us to learn that when we encounter a failure, we may be inspired

by new discoveries after changing our perspective! In Taiwan, there is

almost no industrial chain for Erhu, and making Erhu is time-consuming

and takes a lot of work. It takes at least five years to dry Burmese

rosewood, and the wood is not necessarily perfect. The Erhu soundbox has

six sides. Not only do the six sides have to be the same size, but they also

require the sound to be struck exactly the same, which is extremely

difficult. It takes many years for Burmese rosewood to grow. Due to the

long time, the middle of the wood may corrode. Erhu cannot be made from

just a piece of wood. The skin of the Burmese python is one of the main

materials of the Erhu. The skin above the stomach will expand due to

eating, and the stretch rate is different. Therefore, so only the skin below

the stomach is used to make the Erhu.