Usually uncommon in most Chinese orchestral pieces, the banhu, also known as the qinhu, huhu, bangzihu or daxian, is most commonly associated with Northern folk music, where it has an important role as an accompanying instrument in folk operas. The banhu is used in the Northwest regions of China as an accompanying instrument to the ancient folk operas xi qin qiang and bang zi qiang.

Smaller in size than the erhu, traditional banhus use coconut shells or concave bamboo structures for their qintong (body).  Solid rosewood is used for the stem of the instrument.  Its strings, similar to those of the erhu, have a qianjin that gives the instrument its free string pitches.  Strings, tuning pegs, a bridge and a horsetail hair bow complete the instrument.

The banhu can be classified into soprano banhu, alto banhu and tenor banhu.

The Chinese orchestra usually uses the soprano banhu as the instrument is capable of producing the highest pitched sounds among the bowed stringed instruments.  The soprano banhu is usually scored an octave lower.  The notes produced by the alto banhu are milder and softer, and its free strings and range are almost similar to those of the gaohu, hence it is seldom written for in Chinese orchestral compositions.

The banhu’s sound is usually piercing, high-pitched and tinny. The range of notes used by the banhu in orchestras is rigid, powerful and strong in folk flavour.

The banhu’sperformance techniques are essentially similar to the erhu’s.  However, as the banhu’sstrings are short and tight, and the instrument’s bow has hairs that are coarser than that of an erhu bow, techniques employed by the erhu may not have a similar effect on the banhu. As the banhu was an instrument from the operatic tradition before it became part of the Chinese orchestra, string pressure techniques are favoured to display the banhu’s folk flavour.