N China's Inner Mongolia offers musical instrument making courses to farmers, herdsmen

Hu takes a look at a finished horsehead fiddle produced by one of his students. (People's Daily Online/Liu Yilin)

More than 60 farmers and herdsmen have been gainfully employed after attending courses on the highly specialized craft of making traditional musical instruments while at a training base in Etuokeqian Banner, Erdos city, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The training base, which was founded in 2008 at the Etuokeqian Banner Vocational Secondary School, offered lessons on how to make Chinese musical instruments not only to local farmers and herdsmen, but also to over 100 younger students.

According to Hu Yage, a faculty member at the training base, high school freshmen at the secondary school can complete the production of a horsehead fiddle, a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, within one year if they take one professional course per week.

So far, a total of over 1,500 horsehead fiddles, 1,000 khuurs and 200 three-stringed plucked instruments produced at the training base have hit the market in the Uxin Banner and Dongsheng district of Erdos as well as in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.