Sui Yiyang, guqin maker in Beijing.[PHOTO BY WANG JING/CHINA DAILY]

Then, after returning to the capital, he founded a guqin training school for amateur students and started learning the musical instrument with teachers from Beijing's music conservatories.

Thanks to his experience with guitar, Sui soon mastered the techniques, but at the time it was just a hobby.

After graduating from a military school in Beijing he joined his father's road engineering company.

"I had stable income but I was unhappy with what I was doing. I wanted to do something I really enjoyed, so I quit my job."

In 2009 he set up his own guqin making studio, on the outskirts of the capital.

With savings from his first job he kept his studio running for three years before he received his first guqin order in 2011 and moved his studio to downtown that year.

The price of a guqin depends on what it is made of and its sound, the range being from 150,000 yuan ($22,388) to 250,000 yuan.