A 66-year-old man in southwestern China’s Chengdu devotes his post-retirement life to making Guqin, a seven-string traditional Chinese instrument with over three thousand years of history, chinanews.com reported on Thursday.

Yang Guang, the Guqin maker, once worked at a reservoir. He has been a fan of music since his childhood. At the age of 10, Yang made an Erhu out of bamboo slips, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument. In his forties, he was attracted by the Guqin performances on TV and decided to study on this old plucked musical instrument.

Through many years of efforts, Yang has mastered how to use hundreds of tools to make a Guqin. Today, he lives on a hill with his spouse where he can find the best raw materials.

Guqin has been traditionally favored by scholars and literati including Confucius as an instrument of refinement. Modern craftsmen, like Yang, wish to keep this ancient treasure alive.