The craft of violin making is shrouded in myth and mystique, as can be evidenced in the movie The Red Violin, but Zheng Quan is determined to debunk them.

"Violins made in China used to be seen in other countries as just toys," says the director of the Violin Craft Research Institute attached to the Central Conservatory of Music and an NPC deputy. "But nowadays people look at us with respect."

Zheng explains that violin making is divided into two major categories -- factory manufactured and hand-crafted. China churns out about a million pieces each year in the mass-production sector, which roughly translates into one-third of the global market share making it the largest violin maker in the world in terms of quantity, he says.

But when it comes to making top-of-the-range violins, craftsmanship of the highest order is required. This is where Zheng shines. He is widely credited with training most of China's top talent in the field. Last year, his students won two gold and two silver medals at a prestigious Italian competition for violin making. And the year before, seven of the 20 awards went to Chinese contestants.

"The quality of our violins is getting higher and higher, and we're fast approaching world standards," he says with pride.

A Shanghai native, Zheng was playing violin with a small performing troupe in Anhui Province during the late 1970s. He took up making the instrument in the early 1980s. "I never wanted to become a violin maker. My childhood dream was to be a virtuoso violin player."

The same stig-ma has proved a stumbling block in recruiting new students. "A violin maker basically has a home business," he says. "Even though our graduates have extremely good earning prospects the first batch has all gone abroad young people prefer working for big companies."

Zheng himself was sent to Italy in 1983 where he studied the craft for five years. Upon returning, he took on the role of establishing the trade in China, which has since gone on to produce some of China's best violins and to train its best apprentices. With a host of 24 international awards and four gold medals in various competitions, he has emerged as the country's grandmaster of violin making.

"We have an advantage in talent. Chinese people are meticulous and good with their hands. Our natural handicap is the violin is a Western instrument and for many of us it is an acquired taste."

(China Daily March 11, 2005)