A business that's sheer music to the ears

While New Zealand poet Rewi Alley saw Fenghuang, an ancient town in western Hunan province, as the most beautiful city in China, 67-year-old ethnic Miao Chinese Dai Endou regards Fenghuang as the happiest place in the world.

There, he has turned his five-decade-old passion for traditional Chinese music into a business. He runs a shop selling self-made cucurbit flutes - a Miao musical instrument made of gourd and bamboo - and other kinds of Chinese wind instruments, such as bawu, xiao and xun. Not only are his instruments now well-known souvenirs, but he has also been crowned "King of the Cucurbit Flute" by his customers.

"I am happy that more tourists, both local and from abroad, are beginning to take an interest in these traditional Chinese instruments. There is no need to call out for my goods; their melodious rhythm speaks for itself," Dai says.