Sentinels of tradition

Like most of us, they have to make a living in the here and now, but the vocation of a select group of professionals is tightly bound to the past

In one room, with tools of various kinds and sizes hanging on the walls, Sui Yiyang stands by a table on which lie two pieces of wood with frames of the musical instrument the guqin that he has been working on for many months. In another room he brushes raw lacquer on the frames of a guqin patiently over and over again.

"Usually it takes about two years to finish one," he says.