Latest / The Discussion Podcast / The Lunch Discussion - From Taipei to Trafford: Frank Wang - the Erhu Virtuoso of Manchester

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The Lunch Discussion - From Taipei to Trafford: Frank Wang - the Erhu Virtuoso of Manchester · The Discussion Podcast

• 0:03
  This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell. Supported by... Maxfield Island!
• 0:10
  Childbird Learning in Nature's Playground.
• 0:19
  So my guest today on the show is a gentleman called Frank Wang,
• 0:22
  who I met the other week at a civic reception that the Lord Mayor of Trafford, Jane Ruffey,
• 0:29
  had celebrating very much the best of Trafford, the culture of Trafford.
• 0:34
  And he was there playing an instrument called Erhu.
• 0:38
  I think that's correct, Frank, which is a, would you say it's a Chinese instrument
• 0:44
  or an Asian instrument, Frank?
• 0:46
  So, yes, it's called Erhu. I think your pronoun is very correct.
• 0:52
  And yes, the E-Hu is a very traditional Chinese instrument.
• 0:57
  If we have to link to the history, it's just over 800 years.
• 1:03
  However, the instrument is being, how to say, changed the style and then upgraded
• 1:11
  the sound, upgraded material, things that.
• 1:17
  So until today, when we see this instrument, you're from mainland China or you're
• 1:24
  from Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, you can see people play this instrument, the new one.
• 1:31
  And it's very unique. I mean, if I were to describe to somebody,
• 1:36
  it's a bit like a cello, but it's not got the body of a cello.
• 1:41
  And it's only got two strings. and you don't actually press the strings against the fretboard.
• 1:47
  You sort of just put your finger on and it's almost there's a vibration there.
• 1:52
  So it doesn't look anything like a cello, but it's the closest to a cello that I can think of.
• 1:58
  Yes. People do say it's...
• 2:03
  Chinese violin when I was a child because
• 2:07
  uh when I when I year five in
• 2:10
  Taiwan we being invited to
• 2:13
  go Switzerland and play to obviously the the Switzerland Chancellor um they
• 2:21
  they do say oh it's like a violin but it is completely different and I and then
• 2:27
  our teacher tried to explain his Chinese instruments,
• 2:31
  only two strings to make such a lovely song,
• 2:36
  a different melody.
• 2:39
  However, the different part compared to violin is like you say, Rod, there is no board.
• 2:47
  When you press the strings, there's nothing to support you.
• 2:51
  You have to use your finger only to make the tone correct.
• 2:58
  And the thing about it is with a fretboard, like a guitar, it's slightly different for a violin,
• 3:03
  but it gives you a certain ability to understand where to press your finger
• 3:08
  because you've got some relevance between the physical board and the string.
• 3:13
  Whereas with you, your finger's almost in mid-air as you press a string.
• 3:20
  To understand where that note is very, very complicated.
• 3:25
  That's right, yes. So when they first start learning Erhu.
• 3:32
  People find the most difficult part is how to make the tone right.
• 3:39
  Especially when you press your finger on the string then the the tone will change immediately,
• 3:46
  so and there's no no ball to support you so you don't know how much pressure i need to,
• 3:56
  put on yes if i put on more pressure the sound the tone will go higher pitch yeah if i lose my
• 4:05
  power and the sound will go lower
• 4:08
  pitch so that's same position just
• 4:12
  different power to push the to
• 4:16
  press the string it comes different tone and and what's ironic i find is that
• 4:22
  if to look at their who it looks a very simplistic instrument you've got two
• 4:28
  strings it's very narrow it's got a bit of a body at the bottom end,
• 4:33
  but actually to play it is very complex because you don't have the same spatial
• 4:39
  context that you would have on,
• 4:41
  say, a guitar or a cello or a violin.
• 4:46
  So I want to talk to you a little bit about the instrument and where you picked it up.
• 4:50
  I want to talk to you about your journey here to Manchester,
• 4:54
  to Trafford, because you grew up over in Asia, and And talk about that experience as well.
• 5:03
  So today I'm delighted to be speaking to Frank Wang. I met him at a civic reception
• 5:08
  that the mayor of Trafford, Jane Brophy, attended.
• 5:12
  And it really was a very multicultural Best of Trafford event.
• 5:17
  Frank, I don't know about you, but I was very taken by the talent and the diversity
• 5:24
  of Trafford in that event.
• 5:28
  Yeah, thank you. So, what do I start?
• 5:32
  Well, I'll tell you what, I'll take a break and we'll come back and we'll talk
• 5:36
  to you in a couple of minutes about your journey to here in Trafford.
• 5:42
  You're listening to the Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Childcare,
• 5:46
  where little explorers grow naturally.
• 5:48
  It's Rob Maxwell and Radio Wolty and my
• 5:51
  guest today is a gentleman called Frank Wang who I met at a civic reception
• 5:56
  that the Mayor of Trafford held a couple of weeks ago and it was celebrating
• 6:02
  somewhat the best of Trafford and a wide range of people from different backgrounds
• 6:07
  and different talents as well and Frank,
• 6:11
  I was your assistant on the night pressing some buttons to make sure that you
• 6:16
  had a backing track to play But I was really taken by the instrument.
• 6:22
  I'd never seen anything like it. But can I talk a little bit about your journey
• 6:27
  to Trafford, how you ended up here?
• 6:30
  Because you originally come from, is it Chinese mainland or where do you originally come from?
• 6:35
  Hi, Rad. So I am Chinese, but I come from Taipei City.
• 6:42
  So Taipei City is a city of Taiwan.
• 6:46
  I come with my wife.
• 6:50
  My wife got an offer in University of Manchester for her master's degree. Right.
• 7:00
  And then, so I come with her. She got an offer to study, and I got a single bath to sleep.
• 7:09
  So I need to find a job. um i
• 7:12
  bring my two erhu not just one i
• 7:15
  bring two erhu with me and i'm thinking because i
• 7:19
  teach erhu anyway in both many china
• 7:22
  and taiwan i got many students so i i'm thinking at a time i'm thinking yeah
• 7:29
  i might can find some student here or i just play down the street people will
• 7:36
  will interesting about my Erhu.
• 7:40
  However I find out Manchester is raining all the time so it's not really good
• 7:47
  to play Erhu on the street without,
• 7:51
  a big umbrella so I'm back to I'm back to church which is in also in central
• 8:03
  Manchester and I got people introduced me to Selfridges.
• 8:08
  So I started to look at the job and I find a job in Selfridges.
• 8:15
  I'm selling watches in Selfridges at the time, that which is 2015.
• 8:23
  From grass really, from grass. I don't know anything about watches,
• 8:28
  I don't know anything about the culture or department store.
• 8:33
  So I started to learn until 2017.
• 8:39
  And then I moved to second company it's called Watches of Switzerland in King Street,
• 8:47
  and then because my wife visa expired that also means my visa expired so I asking the company,
• 8:56
  to offer me a sponsorship for my walking visa and then they set me a target
• 9:01
  she says if you can hit this target and we were considering to sponsor you.
• 9:10
  Then obviously I achieved the target within not even half a year.
• 9:16
  So, well, I have to say I must be good at sales and numbers.
• 9:22
  So I achieved that and then Watchers of Switzerland starting to,
• 9:27
  well, should I say fighting? because at the time, the council,
• 9:31
  not really interesting to sponsorship to international people.
• 9:37
  However, the skill I have is not really easy to find people if you're from local.
• 9:46
  So that's including Mandarin speaking and international skill.
• 9:51
  Excuse me. and obviously the knowledge of the timepiece.
• 10:03
  So, finally, I got a working visa, so I stayed UK.
• 10:09
  So, can I ask you, what was your first impression of coming to Manchester,
• 10:15
  maybe apart from the rain?
• 10:17
  Did you have an expectation? And when you got here, what did you think?
• 10:22
  So, the story is, my wife got the offer from Edinburgh first.
• 10:29
  Oh, right, okay. Which we think is also a very, very good, famous and successful university.
• 10:38
  So we're thinking, yeah, why not go to Edinburgh?
• 10:42
  Then she got second offer from University of Manchester.
• 10:47
  And both of me and my wife were thinking, Edinburgh is probably too far and raining all the time.
• 10:57
  It's cold. yes and then cold and that's scotland how is scotland one day not
• 11:05
  uk anymore we don't know that's just a joke yeah so we decide to come in manchester
• 11:10
  but we find out second days,
• 11:13
  well it's also raining here.
• 11:18
  And and and i imagine though that there's a quite a strong asian and chinese
• 11:23
  community in in Did that help you settle Frank?
• 11:29
  So that is also a small part of the reason why we settled in Manchester, because of the church.
• 11:38
  The church, we see people from mainland China, people from Singapore,
• 11:43
  people from Taiwan, like me, all join the same church in central Manchester.
• 11:50
  It's called St Peter's House.
• 11:53
  So we meet each other together in the church.
• 11:57
  That's also the reason well I stress it part of the reason make us to make decisions,
• 12:04
  to say yes we don't we don't find too hard or too cold for us we move foreign
• 12:10
  country to UK because we already know someone,
• 12:14
  also Chinese also from Taiwan,
• 12:17
  in Manchester right okay well look I'm going to take another break and then
• 12:22
  come back to you and talk a little bit more about how you were,
• 12:26
  picked up and how special the night was the other night with Jane Brophy and
• 12:31
  how lovely an event that was and talk a little bit more as well about the air
• 12:35
  hook so my guest today is Frank Wang a local man,
• 12:39
  who's come via Taiwan but has made Manchester's home and plays a beautiful instrument
• 12:46
  so very very well we'll be back with him in a couple of minutes time.
• 12:51
  This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell on Radio Alty.
• 12:58
  So, I mean, Frank, you've been here nearly 10 years, so you're practically a local now.
• 13:05
  How was the transition moving from Taiwan to Manchester?
• 13:09
  I mean, obviously, there's so
• 13:11
  many things to get used to, but does it feel now like it's home or what?
• 13:20
  So, yes, Rod, the first day I landed in Manchester, UK, was August the 4th, 2015.
• 13:30
  So, imagine that was summer, very hot, very warm.
• 13:36
  And I see English people wearing the T-shirts and shirts and stand outside because it is station.
• 13:44
  I was landed at the airport and then my English wasn't good at the time.
• 13:53
  I don't understand people talking and then I don't know how to come to the city from airport.
• 14:01
  So I do asking people and use my poor English.
• 14:08
  And I see people wearing, like I say, wearing a T-shirt. And I wear a coat.
• 14:16
  And then that's the first day I find out how different I am compared to local people.
• 14:23
  But now, 2026 now, I wear a T-shirt outside.
• 14:29
  At this time, March.
• 14:33
  It feels warm, doesn't it, Frank? especially today
• 14:37
  starting yesterday and i
• 14:40
  i go running after dinner and then
• 14:44
  i just wear a t-shirt and so you're you're practically a local now you are a
• 14:49
  mancanian yes um yes i i do love that um when people describe because i i'm
• 14:57
  walking in these now in yorkshire so uh i don't need to come,
• 15:02
  to office every day, but I travel probably two to three days a week.
• 15:08
  That's Yorkshire. When my colleague and people see me from Yorkshire,
• 15:15
  they say, oh, Mancunians here.
• 15:19
  I guess that even in Taiwan or China more generally, you will have those regional
• 15:25
  differences, but it's quite stark even between Manchester and Lancashire.
• 15:31
  And Yorkshire and Cheshire, that's a lot of cultural change,
• 15:37
  just to get used to, Frank.
• 15:39
  Yes, so mainly China or Taiwan, people from North China and from South China
• 15:47
  is a completely different language because people don't speak Mandarin in South
• 15:56
  China, they speak Cantonese.
• 15:59
  Fujian, Hokkien, or Taiwan, got Taiwanese, like similar like Hokkien,
• 16:05
  different tone, different language.
• 16:07
  And then I find out when we talk each other in between, well,
• 16:17
  Manchester and Yorkshire, it's a different tone.
• 16:21
  It really is. Well, look, I want to take a break and come back and talk to you
• 16:27
  again about being recognised by Trafford, by the mayor, and what that meant to you as well.
• 16:36
  So today I'm delighted to be speaking with Frank Wang, a gentleman I met a couple
• 16:40
  of weeks ago, and he's settled here.
• 16:42
  He is a Mancunian via Taiwan, I guess, and we'll speak with him in a couple of minutes' time.
• 16:49
  You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Child Care,
• 16:54
  where little explorers grow naturally.
• 16:57
  So Frank can I ask you about Trafford because Trafford is a big borough there's
• 17:05
  lots of different areas of it and what is it that you find,
• 17:12
  good about the area is it the access to the city is it the schools is it the
• 17:19
  range of culture what do you think is the great thing about Trafford if you like So Trafford for me,
• 17:26
  because I live in the UK,
• 17:29
  Manchester for nearly 11 years now,
• 17:32
  I'm always living in Manchester side, but I travel to Trafford all the time.
• 17:39
  In the very beginning, I know Trafford because of the football and because I'm Chinese.
• 17:47
  So in Chinese culture, people following football, should I say,
• 17:55
  is starting with Manchester United.
• 17:59
  So when we were living in Manchester, I straight away, I noticed,
• 18:04
  oh, that is Manchester United.
• 18:05
  Oh my God, that's not far from me.
• 18:08
  So that's the first side or first part that link me know about Trafford.
• 18:15
  The secondly is the education because, well, however, even my son now is not studying in Trafford.
• 18:25
  He's joined Manchester Grammar School. but at the time me and my wife were both
• 18:30
  thinking because Trafford is very good education area it's got so many good grammar schools,
• 18:38
  Old German grammar school or Selle grammar school, Armstead grammar school.
• 18:42
  It is a very good place to settle as a home and then we can prepare for next
• 18:53
  generation for their education that's the second reason the third reason is because i'm skier,
• 19:00
  i i do ski every year so i find out oh what is that massive building there yes
• 19:06
  it is it's a snow center i can yes i can i can ski wow so basically it's linked
• 19:15
  to one of one of the culture, which is the football,
• 19:20
  and then education, and then sport.
• 19:25
  And however, it's very close to City Centre. Yes, it is.
• 19:31
  I guess I have seen Manchester change dramatically over the last 10-15 years.
• 19:37
  It's really become a metro city, if you like. It's got bigger.
• 19:45
  I don't know if you've seen it as well, the growth of Manchester.
• 19:50
  Yes, I see it grow. I can give you some example, very obvious example is the trunk.
• 19:59
  2015 when I first landed there is no trunk or I say only one trunk starting to link is,
• 20:11
  from St Peter's Square and then but you see now it's linked to Trafford and
• 20:19
  linked to Media City and then and then linked to everywhere.
• 20:23
  Holden for example yeah. Yes.
• 20:26
  Yeah and and I have to ask you, are you a Mancunian red or a Mancunian blue?
• 20:33
  Well, I don't really follow football, to be honest with you.
• 20:41
  I see football players, and then we do follow players. So I do like Haaland.
• 20:52
  But not just say I follow City.
• 20:57
  Because, how to say, like my son.
• 21:02
  He's only seven years old about his follow harder sale.
• 21:07
  It's just for um when when he
• 21:10
  joins different friends or society a
• 21:14
  different environment to to to change his mind and and yeah and the reason why
• 21:21
  i i follow harland because harland is one of our clients i was just about to
• 21:26
  say you possibly have to be slightly diplomatic because i'm sure with the watches that you sell,
• 21:31
  some of your clients might just be footballers.
• 21:34
  Yes, yes, we do. So not just Haaland, but De Broglie, he's the first one sourcing watches.
• 21:41
  And then we, luckily, we can source a watch for him. And then he brings Haaland.
• 21:48
  Well, I was going to say, because some people almost collect watches as a passion
• 21:53
  and also as an investment, don't they, Frank?
• 21:57
  They are, yes. Yes, so some people are collecting watches because they just
• 22:01
  want their collection right, not just one or two, but also maybe 10 different
• 22:07
  watches, different collections, got chronograph or calendar,
• 22:11
  perpetual calendar or even tourbillon.
• 22:14
  Well I'm talking watches now.
• 22:17
  Some of the people, they're collecting watches because of the,
• 22:21
  like you say, like investment because sometimes the watch will gain in value,
• 22:29
  will double the value even.
• 22:32
  So, multi-reason people are loving watches now.
• 22:36
  Oh, there you go. Well, look, it's been fantastic speaking to you.
• 22:40
  Your journey is quite something.
• 22:43
  Your talent playing there, Hugh. I was really taken aback. Do you ever do performances, Frank?
• 22:52
  So yes play erhu was my major when i was studying in taiwan and that that was my major,
• 23:02
  bear mind i'm the third generation play erhu my father he's also played erhu my grandfather,
• 23:11
  who is my first teacher teaching me how to play erhu and he's passed away now but.
• 23:19
  We used to be three generations to play Eahu in Taiwan and perform on the stage.
• 23:27
  Especially me, as I say, I was a major.
• 23:31
  My major was Eahu when I was in university.
• 23:35
  So when we graduate, before we graduate, we have to settle one performance,
• 23:42
  which is the whole night, just me, to play Eahu. So I prepared 12 different songs.
• 23:49
  My performance was 90 minutes.
• 23:53
  This is the Late Late Lunch. With Ross Maxwell. It's a professional training progress.
• 24:00
  Yeah, yeah. So you were grade 8. You are grade 8 in Erhu.
• 24:05
  Oh, yes. I'm a master degree of Erhu. Wow.
• 24:09
  Wow. Well, I have to say, it is a very impressive instrument.
• 24:15
  I think the sound out of it defies the size of it.
• 24:18
  And I think it's got a certain drama to it as well, Frank.
• 24:25
  It's got a very unique and almost haunting sound at times, but it was beautiful.
• 24:32
  And you've got a real talent for it, which your qualifications show.
• 24:36
  Thank you for your time. If anybody wants to hear you perform or hear some of
• 24:42
  your music, is there anywhere they can go to hear that?
• 24:46
  So, I don't have a channel. Like I said, I do teach students,
• 24:51
  I do teach people, but I don't really put my video on any social media.
• 24:58
  But I find out, YouTube, you can type in my name, you can see some of my play.
• 25:07
  Okay, right. So people should just search Frank Wang on YouTube and they'll see you playing there.
• 25:14
  You can see my player who is.
• 25:18
  Okay, well, we'll be playing some of your music on the radio show.
• 25:24
  It's been a real pleasure to speak to you. Thank you for sharing your story.
• 25:28
  Thank you for taking this time. Thank you, Rod. And it was a pleasure to meet you.
• 25:32
  Pleasure to meet you, Rod. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
• 25:35
  This is the Late Late Lunch Show. With Back to the Garden Childcare,
• 25:39
  where little explorers grow naturally. Back to the Garden!
• 25:44
  Bye.