During the 11th Nanning International Folk Song and Art Festival, She Xuebao entertained an audience by expertly playing a tiny flute.

The haunting music reflected the tender affection of lovers and their endless longing for each other.

The fascinated audiences gave thunderous applauses to the artist from China's ethnic Yi group.

The Yi people are one of China's six major ethnic groups. They live mainly in southwest China's Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The tiny flute, commonly known as the “little melancholy flute” according to a legend of the Yi people, is a musical instrument unique to them and has a history of over 1,000 years.

With three holes in the front and one hole at the back, the little flute is just seven centimeters long and one centimeter in diameter.

She Xuebao told his audience with much pride that he had made the flute himself using bamboo as the flute pipe and an insect shell as the whistle.

Traditional flute pipes were made from the hollow canal of an eagle feather.

She Xuebao, who comes from a mountain village in the Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, developed a passion for music at a young age.

He received a thorough musical training at Yunnan Normal University more than 20 years ago.

"It is not easy to play the tiny flute as the technique is very difficult to master the alto and the lower notes as it has so few holes. You can play only eight-scale music on the traditional melancholy flute, " says She Xuebao.

In the second year after his graduation from university, She Xuebao and two other colleagues began to study how to make and play the tiny flute under a veteran folklore artist.

After three years, the artist eventually mastered the skills required for making and playing the flute.

She Xuebao later changed the method of making the tiny flutes by lengthening them to 15 cm in length, making the diameter 1.5 cm and putting eight holes, instead of five.

"The new flute is easy to master," said he.

According to him, he can now play musical pieces with a bigger range of notes ranging from low bourdon eight to alt eight, and can easily perform modern music.

By playing his tiny flute, he has won fame for himself and also introduced the music of the ethnic Yi people he represents to the world through special TV programs and CDs.

(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2001)