The Suona of Hewan Village

Old Liu, the suona master of Hewan Village, has played the suona his whole life, leading the music at weddings, funerals, and festivals. But the suona troupe is falling apart, the village's young people have gone off to work and no one wants to learn, and Old Liu's son went into business in the city long ago and never touches the instrument. His grandson, Liu Xiaoman, studies at a music conservatory in the city. Home for summer vacation, he is stirred by his grandfather's playing and furious to see a village wedding unable to hire a single suona band. When a booking agency tries to sign Old Liu for packaged performances, he flatly refuses. Xiaoman gathers the village's young people into a new suona band, determined to join the old troupe at the Mid-Autumn Festival temple fair and play the full "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix."