HARBIN — On a recent sweltering afternoon in Jixi, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Qiu Xin balanced on a ladder outside a factory studio, chalking the outline of a panda across the wall.

Deaf and mute since birth, Qiu is now a designer at ESP China, a guitar maker with an unusual workforce. Her handiwork extends beyond the factory floor to the very walls of the building. "Design is not just a job," she wrote on a slip of paper. "It's what I love."

Qiu's career path was anything but smooth. After graduating from high school, her parents, worried that she might be mistreated by employers, urged her to remain at home. But Qiu chose independence and struck out on her own for Harbin, the provincial capital, for a broader world.

Fond of painting and sweets since childhood, Qiu found work in a local bakery and later spent a decade in Jixi as a creative cake decorator. The long hours, however, left her exhausted and in pain, forcing her to quit.

In 2023, a friend who worked at ESP China nudged Qiu to join the company. She started polishing guitars, but a quick sketch of a missing jacket she posted in the company group chat revealed her drawing talent. The company management was impressed by the drawing, promoting her to the design team.

Today, Qiu's talent is in full bloom. Thanks to the company's training, she has mastered pyrography — a traditional wood-burning craft — and can now create custom guitar body designs independently using the technique. Her creations can fetch up to 4,000 yuan ($563) apiece, according to Liu Ying, head of ESP China's export department.

Qiu earns a monthly wage of 4,500 to 5,000 yuan, which is on par with what her colleagues get. This income has brought her stability, as well as the freedom to explore and enjoy life. After her shift ends at 4:30 pm, she often rides her bike to the city's old train station or airport. The two-and-a-half-hour round trip has become her favorite activity to unwind.

Qiu is one of the 25 deaf-and-mute employees at ESP China, which employs 130 people in total. Founded in 1992, ESP China manufactures mid-to-high-end electric guitars, mostly for export to the United States, Japan, Germany and the Republic of Korea. Since its early years, the company has practiced inclusive hiring.

"Some companies see people with disabilities as a communication or management headache," Liu said. "But we've got used to it — helping even a few people with disabilities find employment still makes a difference in society."

That philosophy runs deep at the company. Gao Shang, a hearing employee who joined the team just a year ago, has picked up basic sign language to improve his communication with co-workers who are deaf and mute. When he's unsure of a sign, he simply writes down the word. "It's not hard to communicate with colleagues who have disabilities," he said.

The factory's director, Lyu Chuangen, said the company operates on a "factory plus family" model. Managers keep in touch with employees' households and monitor their emotional well-being. "When I see our employees who have disabilities living better lives, I feel proud," Lyu said.

Such efforts reflect a broader national trend. In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to support people with disabilities, recognizing employment as a fundamental right. According to official data, approximately 2.31 million new jobs were created for people with disabilities between 2021 and 2025, raising the employment rate among the population group by nearly 5 percentage points.

To build on that momentum, China has launched a three-year action plan (2025-27), which includes incentivizing private companies to hire people with disabilities in proportion to their overall staff. Jixi's quiet success offers a glimpse into the kind of inclusive employment the new policy aims to promote.

And Jixi is not alone. Across the country, inclusive employment models are gaining ground. In Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, a local bakery has trained and hired nearly 100 people with intellectual disabilities; in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan province, a service center has provided agricultural skills training to over 5,000 disabled residents; and in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province, milk tea brand Chagee opened its first "silent store" in 2024, staffed by four hearing-impaired tea brewers.

Back inside the ESP China workshop, Zhang Yong (a pseudonym), one of Qiu's fellow deaf-and-mute colleagues, runs his hand over a freshly assembled guitar, inspecting it with practiced care. He gives it a thumbs-up and makes a strumming motion. The strings have yet to be attached, but the gesture speaks volumes.

In this unusual factory, silent hands bring music to life. And in doing so, they shape not just guitars, but dignity, purpose and rhythm for their own futures.

Xinhua