In Wukusak Town, known as the "Xinjiang Ethnic Musical Instrument Village of China," over 60 households of artisans are dedicated to the handcrafted production of traditional Xinjiang musical instruments, yielding over 60,000 instruments annually, valued at over 2 million yuan. Today, these age-old skills, guided purely by a craftsman's intuition, are meeting the precision of Lingnan's "quality manufacturing" from 5,000 kilometers away.

This September, the Shufu County Vocational and Technical Middle School in Kashi, Xinjiang, welcomed a group of teachers aiding Xinjiang. For the first time, they introduced the strict craftsmanship standard of mortise and tenon joint gaps not exceeding 0.2 millimeters—a standard from the fine woodworking category of the WorldSkills Competition—into the core production process of ethnic musical instruments. In August 2026, He Xiangyu, a teacher from the Guangzhou Light Industry Technician College, arrived in Shufu County as a member of the aid-Xinjiang team to carry out vocational teaching assistance. While visiting the ethnic musical instrument village and the master studios at the school, he found that the masters relied entirely on manual cutting and sanding, resulting in a long production cycle for each instrument. "The products themselves are excellent, but their expansion into larger markets will be limited," He Xiangyu said.

His solution is straightforward: to integrate the practical experience of Guangdong's fine woodwork professionals from the WorldSkills Competition into instrument making.

He plans to accomplish four tasks: introduce datum leveling and layout marking methods to make instrument body dimensions more stable and improve consistency within the same batch; provide precision sanding and edge-trimming tools to reduce heavy and repetitive labor, allowing masters to focus their energy on core traditional techniques like carving and shaping; outline practical procedures to form a simple process reference; and rely on studio training to teach local young trainees the key points of sanding and fine processing while making products.

Source:PEARL

广东援疆教师牵线搭桥，南疆“乐器村”引入岭南“质造”工艺

在“中国新疆民族乐器村”吾库萨克镇，全村60余户匠人投身新疆传统乐器手工制作，年产各类乐器6万余件，产值超200万元。这种纯粹依赖“手感”的古老技艺，如今正与来自5000公里外的岭南“质造”工艺进行对话。

金秋9月，新疆喀什疏附县高级技工学校迎来了一批援疆教师，他们首次将世界技能大赛精细木工项目中对榫接缝隙不超过0.2毫米的严苛工艺标准，引入民族乐器核心制作环节。2026年8月，来自广州市轻工技师学院的教师贺祥宇作为援疆队员来到疏附县开展技能支教帮扶。在走访民族乐器村和学校的名师工作室时，他发现师傅们完全依靠手工切削、手工打磨，一件乐器制作周期很长。“东西本身很好，但想卖到更大的市场就会受限制。”

贺祥宇的办法很直接——把广东精细木工专业世界技能大赛的实操经验嫁接到乐器制作上。

他计划做四件事：引入基准找平、划线定位方法，让琴身尺寸更稳定，减小同批次产品误差；补充精密打磨、修边工具，减少粗重重复劳作，把师傅的精力留给雕刻、造型等核心传统技艺；梳理实操工序形成简易工艺参考；依托工作室实训，一边做产品一边带徒弟，将打磨、精加工的要点教给本地青年学员。

文、图｜记者 周聪
译 | 陈冠臻
英文审校 | 盛嘉