"Professor" may be too lofty - a title for a carpenter, in the opinion of common people, including my friends; yet to me, it means trust and responsibility."

--- He Xirui

He Xirui, a 59-year-old carpenter from Rongchang, Chongqing, was appointed a guest professor at the College of Arts and Media, Southwest Jiaotong University, at its opening ceremony on June 16, 2004. The news immediately called wide attention and generated controversy.

He Xirui sounded so friendly, optimistic, patient and professional that was of a great help to me for having my first interview on a telephone line. However, the deeper conversation I was in with him, the more I wished that I could have met him in person and taken a close look at those exquisite violins produced in his famous 1000-square-meter-house in baroque style designed and built by himself. Sure, as a village carpenter, He Xirui has been struggling against his fate, hardship and difficulties. He has really performed a miracle with his diligence, wisdom, persistence and creativity.

A review of his family - "I came from the very bottom of the society."

The legendary experiences of He Xirui are intimately connected with his special family background. In 1957, his father, a graduate of Jinling University, was on the black list of "the Right". No doubt, hee, who was then only 12, began to suffer from all the hardship we can imagine at that time. Unable to go to high school, he started his career as a carpenter when he was 16. Even as a teenager, he was good at observing and thinking. In his eyes, every farm implement was actually a "record" of thoughts, reflecting the ideas of producers and demands of employers. As a result, the tools he made were especially popular among the local farmers.

A story of his violin - "The violin is a vast learning."

Perhaps being influenced by his mother who used to be a vocalist and pianist. He Xirui has a profound love for music. In 1965, he made his first musical instrument for a local factory. He even carved a dragonhead on its top. Having gained enough confidence, he began to make violins in the early period of the "Cultural Revolution".

His first violin did take him but one month to complete. Being rather proud of himself, he came to Chengdu after a 10-hour-trip by train. "I visited an old professor at Sichuan Conservatory of Music, eager to know his opinion about my violin. He didn't give me a single word; instead, he took out his own violin from a worn-out box - the handcraft, painting, sounds and resonance were so amazing and beautiful - I was overwhelmed by its breathtaking charm. Evidently it made such a world of difference from mine that I could find no place to hide myself for shame." He Xirui recalled.

From that moment on, he determined to make a better one. And that dream has lasted 39 years. After a lot of reading, he gradually came to understand why the violin has been so popular in Europe for centuries; how the magic four strings, which produce the most beautiful sounds of human beings, have made so many violinists and producers suffer pain, defeat and frustration. The title of "the Queen of Musical Instruments" is not a fabrication, nor exaggeration." The violin is a vast learning. It is not only essential to accumulate the cultural and historical backgrounds of its appearance and development, but also necessary to know the structures of the instrument and wooden materials, together with the kinds of trees, places of growth, sunshine, soil, geographic features, etc." He explained to me. "I think that a good violin producer must be a craftsman, musician, physicist, chemist as well as a humanist. To put it in a more fashionable way, he should have three-dimension-knowledge. Of course, only knowledge is far less than enough. Arts also depend on one's feeling and comprehension. That's why there are so many styles and versions of arts. Arts suffer no sameness; otherwise we'd better call it 'products' instead of 'works'. I couldn't help my acclamation. "The more violins I produce, the more difficulties I have. No termination -there is never the best one - that's exactly the charm of arts."

A touch of his architecture - it seems to me much easier to build a house than make a violin."

Due to the specific history background, He Xirui used to demolish a lot of buildings, mostly temples, when he was a village carpenter. He was always very devout whenever he pulled them down, because in his point of view, all the buildings accumulate thoughts, times and humanities. The more he learns about the structures of the buildings, the philosophies of the traditional ideology, such as "Fengshui", "Wuxing", the more he understands how broad and profound the Chinese culture is with its 5,000 years of history which has covered all the existence of human beings. That is exactly what he is going to focus on lecturing at SWJU.

However, enormously influenced by his parents and the enlightenment education from the Soviet Union, he still used to favor the Western culture, especially the renaissance arts. That's why he built his house in baroque style. "No doubt, the Europeans have made the best use of all the fine lines that human beings can catch a sight of. It is almost impossible to overstep them. All I can do is to imitate them," He Xirui has fulfilled his dream - producing his beloved European violins in his spacious European house designed and built by himself. There is even a large cellar to store his wine, which is very helpful to him for the experiments related to his violin producing.

A glimpse of his lectures- "I prefer to call myself 'Carpenter He'."

In September 2003, He Xirui was employed as a guest professor at the Orchestra Department of Sichuan Conservatory of Music. His lectures, experiences, theories, ideas and adventures have turned out to be so brilliant, interesting and thrilling. "It has been more than 100 years since the violin were introduced to China. It was produced here about 70 years ago. The real development of violin producing has only been 20-30 years after the 'Cultural revolution', Step by step, we start using the local materials and producing real local violins. What's more, the instruments have called attention from worldwide masters," He added proudly. In fact, numerous well-known violinists who use He's violins have won international competitions. I bet that nothing is more authoritative to prove He's talents.

"What I have been trying to do is to transform my experiences into language, find generality from individuality, and share my comprehension with my students. That's probably the only advantages I benefit from, compared with the craftsmen of older generations." He said frankly.