Accordion museum born of man's love for its music

Dawran·Dosanhan, founder of the Tacheng Accordion Museum, plays an accordion at the museum in Tacheng city, Tacheng prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, May 26, 2016. [Photo by Nijat·Niyaz/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The six years' experience of collecting accordions is not a smooth way and one thing impresses him the most occurred in Kazakhstan.

In 2014, when he was collecting accordions in Kazakhstan, he met a 92-year-old Russian who had 22 accordions made in Germany during the Second World War. He wanted to purchase these accordions but the old man refused. When Dosanhan explained to him that he wanted to open a museum in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to showcase accordions from each period in history, to help people learn more about the instruments, the man happily agreed.

As Dosanhan removed these accordions, the man couldn't help shedding tears while touching the instruments affectionately, as if he was saying goodbye to his children.

This deeply touched Dosanhan, and every time he stands in the exhibition hall of the museum, he can't help recalling these memories and feels a responsibility to share and spread accordion culture.