Electricity powers up drum-making industry in village in C China’s Henan

A villager plays the drums in Matun village, Luoyang City, Oct. 3, 2023. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online)

At the drum-making base in Matun village, Yanshi district, Luoyang city, Henan Province, large red drums are neatly arranged together, like towering mountains. Recently, the village completed an upgrade of its power supply, ensuring that every household's drum-making workshop has sufficient electricity to operate at full capacity.

Matun village, the largest minority village in the west of Henan Province, is known as "the first drum making village in the world”, with an entire industrial chain from raw material processing to finished product sales. More than 2,500 people in the village work in the drum making industry, accounting for 80 percent of the village population, and there are more than 200 drum family workshops. The large drums, waist drums, war drums, African drums, South Korean tambourines and dozens of other dozens drums produced in the village are sold at home and abroad.

"Our village has a history of making drums, starting with making drum leather, and then to the one-stop production of drums now. The Beijing Olympic Games, Xi 'an National Games and other major events have used our drums," explained Wang Kuaijing, Party chief of the village, who smiled with pride as she spoke of the development of the drum industry in Matun village.

Drum makers produce tambourines in Matun village, Oct. 10, 2023. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online) 

At the beginning of this year, Matun village Drum Musical Instrument Limited Company received a batch of large orders from South Korea for more than 280,000 units. However, if previous manual production and natural drying processes had been used, the company would certainly not have been able to meet the deadline. Ma Duolai, the head of the company, sought the help of the power supply company, and through the efficient application and quick connection of electricity, the company was able to use high-power air drying to achieve batch constant temperature baking, finally delivering the goods on schedule.

"I have been making drums here for more than ten years. It is a meticulous job. The materials are exquisite, and the production process is better. Drum leather needs to be dried after sewing. For the large quantities of orders we received, the construction period will be delayed if we wait for natural drying. If we use conventional carbon baking heating, the heating of the drum will be uneven and the yield will be low, which will affect our output. After using the electric baking method, not only is the drying effect of the drum good and the yield high, but the production cycle is also greatly reduced, ensuring that we can quickly ship the product," said Ma Duolai.

Drum makers use electric drum-making equipment to produce drum hoops in Matun village, Oct. 10, 2023. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online)

Industrial development requires a reliable electricity supply. Thanks to the entire industrial chain from raw material processing to finished product sales, Matun village has vigorously developed e-commerce and has been selected as "China Taobao Village" on many occasions, which means a stable and reliable electricity source has become particularly important.

To support the development of the special cultural industry in the area, the State Grid Luoyang Yanshi Electric Power Supply Branch has proactively allocated and invested more than 400,000 yuan for line reconstruction in Matun village, including two new transformers and an increase of 800 KVA in transformer capacity, achieving dual and worry-free power supply for merchants' workshops and a reliable power supply for online sales.

Staff from the electric power supply company visit drum-making enterprises to learn about their electricity needs on Nov. 10, 2023. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online)

"Since the beginning of this year, the electricity demand in Matun village has grown rapidly, with the maximum load surpassing 860 KW, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period last year. We have prioritized the electricity demand of Matun village as a special project, proactively visiting enterprises to eliminate safety hazards, providing energy efficiency analysis, and offering professional and high-quality services to support industrial development, rural revitalization, and making the drum-making industry a continued source of wealth and prosperity for the residents of Matun village," said Yao Hongliang, the general manager of State Grid Luoyang Yanshi Electric Power Supply Branch.

Staff from the electric power supply company visit drum-making enterprises to inspect the lines for potential hazards on Nov. 10, 2023. (Photo provided to People's Daily Online)

（Contributed by Yan Yinchao and Li Shuai from State Grid Luoyang Electric Power Supply Company）