Bodu River, with a total length of 24.1 kilometers, has a history of 3,200 years. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A series of cultural gathering activities, sponsored by the publicity department of Wuxi High-Tech Zone and the Jiangsu Newspaper Supplements Association, were held in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province earlier this month.
The activities, under the theme "Walking Along The Bodu River", included a visit to the former residence of Chinese scholar Qian Mu (1895-1900) and Qian Weichang (1912-2010), two of the most prominent literary and education masters in Jiangnan-the Yangtze River Delta region that has been eulogized by many generations of poets.
The event, which ran between July 5 and 7, sought to help locals and visitors from across the country appreciate the profound tradition of Jiangnan culture, with one of the highlights proving to be the intriguing experience of listening to The Moon Over a Fountain in the Erhu Cultural Park of Meicun village.
The masterpiece, which was composed for the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese musical instrument) by the legendary local figure Hua Yanjun, is among the most frequently played erhu pieces in China.
Walking into Meicun Erhu Cultural Park, visitors gazed at the statue of the engaging composer sitting on a stone near the lotus pond, and in the little theater they were intoxicated by the beautiful erhu melody.
"The music piece renders the spirit of Jiangnan beyond its tenderness, and also consolidates the status of Meicun in Wuxi as the hometown of the erhu," says Zhou Wei, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the Chinese Erhu Society.
At the erhu production workshop in Meicun, workers were busily engaged in making various parts of the ancient instrument.
According to statistics from the local district, 18 local erhu production workshops in Meicun produce nearly 40,000 erhu per year, accounting for 25 percent of the entire nation's middle and high-end erhu market. In 2011, Meicun's erhu production technique was included on the Jiangsu Intangible Cultural Heritage List.