Huqin is the generic term for Chinese bowed-string instruments. To some, it is but a “barbarian” fiddle, while to others, it is the Chinese version of the seemingly more versatile Western violin. There are more than thirty-six types of huqins. Those commonly used in the Chinese orchestra are the gaohu, erhu and zhonghu. Depending on the repertoires, other bowed string instruments such as banhu, jinghu, yehu are also used occasionally.

Bowed stringed instruments are played using a bow made of horse hair to vibrate the strings. They generally have a soft, elegant tone, which is often used to produce the feelings of weeping or wailing.

Bow-stringed instruments form the foundation in Chinese orchestras. Modelled after the Western orchestra, the huqin sections correspond to the different viols in a symphony orchestra.

According to records, the huqin first appeared in the Tang Dynasty as an instrument called the xiqin; Song Chenyang’s “Book of Music” describes the xiqin as being shaped like a xiantao (an instrument with a skinned hide) and having a bamboo strip in the middle of its two strings.  

During the Song Dynasty, a huqin with a bow made out of horsetail hair was already in use around the North-west regions.  During the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian tribes used the hu weng er (a form of huqin) in religious festivals and in the military.

The Ming Dynasty’s painting of “Autumn Party at Lin Tang” portrays the huqin being played with a bow which had its hairs trapped in between the instrument’s two strings.  The painted instrument had a structure highly similar to the modern erhu.

Over the course of a thousand years from when it had first been played, the huqin has evolved and developed into numerous other variations like the pimo erhu (skin-membrane erhu), jinghu (Peking opera huqin), jing erhu (Peking opera erhu), ruangong erhu (soft-bowed erhu), yuehu (Cantonese huqin), sihu, banmian banhu and yehu.

Click on the below links for more information about:
- Banhu
- Erhu
- Gaohu
- Zhonghu
- Gehu

*Information provided by Samuel Wong Shengmiao from The Teng Company.