Mongolian luthier spreads matouqin art

The 38-year-old luthier Guang Hui has been making matouqins, a two-stringed instrument with a scroll carved like a horse’s head, for nearly 12 years and is proficient in the arts of carving, polishing and painting.

Guang Hui carves the wood on part of a matouqin at his workshop in Hohhot, Nov. 30. (Photo/Xinhua)

In 2006, Mongolian matouqin music was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage approved by the State Council.

Guang paints a matouqin at his workshop in Hohhot, Nov. 30. (Photo/Xinhua)

"Matouqins are a proud Mongolian tradition and I want to promote them to future generations," Guang said.

Guang adjusts a matouqin at his workshop in Hohhot, Nov. 30. (Photo/Xinhua)

A matouqin usually involves a variety of wooden materials including red sandalwood, maple wood, and spruce wood. It is a lengthy process to make one, including lineation, cutting, rough carving, elaborate carving, polishing, painting, buffing, waxing and assembling. Nowadays, machines can take care of many parts of the instrument-making process, however, manually-produced matouqins are still of higher quality.

Matouqins displayed at Guang's workshop in Hohhot, Nov. 30. (Photo/Xinhua)

While the machine is excellent, it can't replace the quality associated with manual work, added Guang.

The United States cannot legitimize an operation that attacked Venezuela and captured its president, a Chinese scholar said Sunday.

On Saturday, the United States launched a large-scale strike on Venezuela, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were 'captured and flown out of Venezuela' according to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account.

Teng Jianqun, director of the Center for Diplomatic Studies at Hunan Normal University, said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the aim of this operation is to take full control of Venezuela’s natural resources.

"I don't think the United States can legitimize this operation to take custody of the president of Venezuela. And also I don't think the United States can legitimize its any action in taking the oil reserves of that country. This is actually a very dangerous game played by the Trump administration. And of course, the United States would like to take full control of that country and to take full control of the natural resources, especially the large reserve of oil in Venezuela," said Teng.

Teng said Venezuela is not an isolated case but a common practice by the United States. The United States launched an invasion of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, which continued until January 1990, with the stated objective of capturing Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and organized crime.

"We still remember the so-called sentence of the former president of Panama in the late 1980s. And this time, the president of Venezuela will be under some judicial condition (judicial proceedings) for the so-called drug trafficking and some other crimes. So I think this is not a single case for the Venezuela country, but also this is actually a practice by the United States -- to use force, to use so-called justice under law against any leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean waters," he said.

US cannot legitimize operation against Venezuela: Chinese scholar