Meng Yan Situ 1

Stuart Meng Yan (1888- 1954), a native of Kaiping, Guangdong, was the designer of the first 10,000-ton ship in China and the first violin manufacturer in China. Born in Shanghai, he loved music and Cantonese opera as early as his childhood. At the beginning of the 20th century, I began to learn violin playing from foreign violin teachers in Xujiahui Church.

He studied violin in his spare time and became an excellent violinist under the guidance of Austrian violinist E.Gruenberg, a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Under the guidance of W.S.Goss, a world-famous Polish-American violin producer, he has made more than a dozen violins, becoming the first violin producer in China.

2. Wang Mei

Wang Mei, 1907, a native of Linyi, Shandong Province, joined the World Savings Association (Bank) after graduating from high school. Wang Mei has been a music lover since middle school, especially the violin.

1936 moved to Qingdao with the bank, 1930 worked as a music teacher in Qingdao municipal middle school. Here, he met the famous violinist Tan and joined an amateur symphony orchestra in Qingdao.

Wang Mei worked hard in the symphony orchestra and improved his playing skills, but the violin he used was worn out. 1935, Wang Mei decided to make his own violin.

He devoted himself to studying the performance and principle of dissecting the violin and repeated experiments. After unremitting efforts and research, Wang Mei made the first violin in China on September 10. Once the news came out, Qingdao people were deeply proud and caused a sensation in the domestic music industry.

Later, Wang Mei made more than twenty violins and distributed them to poor music lovers and students.

From 65438 to 0949, he was transferred to Beijing People's Art Theatre and served as deputy director and senior engineer of New China Musical Instrument Factory, specializing in the development and production of violins.

From 65438 to 0956, Wang Mei was transferred to China Institute of Light Industry Science and founded the first musical instrument research institute in China. During this period, he also cooperated with Tan to set up a musical instrument research room in Shanghai.

3. Tan Shuzhen

Tan, born in Qingdao, 1907, is known as the pioneer and leader of violin manufacturing industry in China. As early as 1930s, I bought tools, materials and related books for violin making from abroad, and made great efforts to study violin making technology and make high-quality violins.

After the founding of New China, at the initiative of Dean He Luting, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music established a musical instrument factory. Tan invited more than a dozen skilled craftsmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and sought materials from the northeast to make the piano. Under his guidance, many violins were born in Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

From 65438 to 0956, the former Ministry of Light Industry set up a musical instrument research institute in Shanghai and hired Tan as its director. In the same year, Tan commissioned a violin making training class in Shanghai, and people from all over the country were sent to Shanghai to study.

Most of these students will become the leaders of Beijing Violin Factory, Shanghai Violin Factory and Guangzhou Violin Factory, and become the backbone in the field of violin making in China. 1978, Tan took the lead in setting up violin making major in Shanghai Conservatory of Music to train violin making talents with advanced music and scientific and cultural knowledge.

It is precisely because of Professor Tan's foresight that the talent structure of Chinese violin producers has been fundamentally improved, laying the foundation for Chinese violin production to go global.

In the teaching of violin making, Tan proposed that the internationally recognized famous violin should be used as the standard, and the traditional production technology should be adopted to make the violin in a refined and standardized way. He requires students to be comprehensive, not only to play the piano, but also to make it, which is compatible with Chinese and western.

In terms of production style, it is based on Clemot's piano in the Italian Golden Age. Tan's teaching thought has become the guiding principle of violin making in Shanghai Conservatory of Music and other institutions, and has trained a group of high-level violin making talents for China.

4. Beam

Liang, 1924, born, is a famous violin producer and educator of the older generation in China, one of the leading figures of Lingnan Piano School in China, a senior violin craftsman of Guangzhou Musical Instrument Industry Company and a consultant of Guangdong Musical Instrument Association.

This comrade 1950 began to learn violin making technology, and 1956 joined the Guangzhou Musical Instrument Research Institute (then led by the Cultural Bureau and later merged into the Guangdong Musical Instrument Factory) to engage in violin development.

From 65438 to 0976, he was engaged in violin research and apprenticeship in the Institute of Guangzhou Musical Instrument Industry Company, and concurrently served as the main subject teacher of Guangzhou Violin Production School.

1983, his work won the Excellent Violin Voice Award in the German International Violin Making Competition. The students and the next generation taught by this comrade have won 40 gold medals, silver medals and excellent prizes in international competitions, which has made important contributions to the Chinese violin going global.

5. Dai Hongxiang

Master Dai Hongxiang, a famous violin producer, 1928 was born in an ordinary peasant family in Fangshan District, Beijing on April 26th. He has been smart and studious since he was a child. He used to be the principal of a primary school in his hometown.

After the land reform, I went to the city to find a job and formed an indissoluble bond with violin making. Comrade Dai Hongxiang devoted his life to the violin career in China. He devoted his whole life to violin making in New China.

From 65438 to 0958, Master Dai Hongxiang studied in the first national violin making training class organized by Mr. Tan, a famous musician and educator in China. During the training, I studied hard and got excellent grades. After graduation, he became the technical pacesetter and industry leader of Beijing Violin Factory and Beijing Musical Instrument Research Institute.

Engaged in violin production and research has filled many gaps in violin production in China. He won the first prize in the first national violin production industry competition.

In the 1970s, he participated in the formulation of ministerial standards for piano-making in the Ministry of Light Industry, which made rules for piano-making in China and made great contributions to the standardization of piano-making in China.