French luthier works to find the perfect note

Born near the French city of Lyon, Beluze learned his skills from Russian musician and luthier Alexandre Snitkovski. So impressed was Snitkovski with Beluze's work that he turned his former student into a business partner for their company Beluze & Snitkovski, a Lyon-based enterprise that sells, repairs and modifies instruments.

Beluze's attraction to wood started in childhood. He grew up in the countryside and enjoyed being surrounded by trees. One day, he tried to make a wooden sculpture without proper tools, he says, and it worked.

"I understand wood by instinct and I've always been obsessed with detail," Beluze says.

He learned the guitar at a young age, too. Each stringed instrument has its own personality just like a human, he says.

Antique instruments tend to be his favorite pieces, taking between six months and a year to repair.

"They bring something back from the past. The scratches and marks on the instruments reflect the story and emotions of the people who once played them," he says.

"Everything is quickly obsolete nowadays but wood instruments can travel centuries - not only do they not lose their power but sound even better with time."

Eight years ago, when his wife found a job in Shenzhen, Beluze followed her to China. Until then, he knew little about the country.

"China is an adventure," says Beluze, now a father of two.

Beluze's only apprentice at his workshop is 24-year-old He Yuxin, a graduate of the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, who has been learning how to make stringed instruments from her employer since last year. Trained in violin, she says she enjoys the quietness of her new workplace.

In the past few years, the country's classical music scene has developed much owing to factors, such as the emergence of more professional symphony orchestras and a sustained interest among young Chinese in such music.

Earlier, Beluze had planned to stay in China for only three to five years, he says. "But I'm still here and wish it (my stay) will last long."