Lahu gourd-making skills

Yunnan
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The production technology of Lahu gourd sheng is very common in Lahu settlements. Nangahe Village, Nanliu Village, Muga Township, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Simao City is a Lahu village with a high level of gourd sheng production skills. Lahu people's daily life, production labor, festivals, weddings and funerals are inseparable from gourd sheng. The gourd sheng of the Lahu people in Nangahe is made more delicately. The main tools are 6 to 7 carving knives of different sizes. The raw materials include hard bamboo, bubble bamboo, hollow bamboo, gourd, acid beeswax and lead. The production process is very delicate and sophisticated, and the selection of sound pipes and gourds is very serious. The production process mainly includes picking gourds, repairing gourds (trimming the appearance and digging holes), cutting bamboo tubes, installing reeds, sticking tubes, and tuning. Among them, tuning is the most critical. It must be debugged repeatedly to ensure the accuracy of the pitch. This process cannot be done without a master. Gourd shengs are large and small, long and short, and different gourd shengs produce different pitches. The gourd sheng can be as small as an egg or as large as more than 1 meter. The gourd sheng is the mascot of the Lahu people and an important witness to their long history and splendid culture. It plays a positive role in maintaining national unity and enhancing national centripetal force and cohesion. Making gourd sheng is a handicraft with relatively light labor in the local area. Generally, Lahu men start learning to make it at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and can make it for the rest of their lives. Most adult men in Nanjiahe Village can make gourd shengs. The master-disciple relationship is based on the family unit, and it is passed down from generation to generation from male to female. Because the reeds of the Nanjiahe gourd sheng are finely made, the sound is loud, the tone is accurate, and the price is cheap, it is very popular. At present, making and selling gourd shengs has become an important family handicraft in Nanjiahe and the main source of economic income. More and more villagers are learning to make gourd shengs.

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