The gehu, which has variations like the big gehu and bass gehu, was created in the 1950s to fill sound gaps caused by inadequate low registers in the Chinese orchestra. This reformed version of the huqin consists of the body, bridge, spine and bow.  A hybrid of the Western Cello and the erhu, the instrument is bowed like the Cello and has an animal skin (usually horse, lamb or snake) surfaced body.

The Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s Yang Yusen is credited largely for the creation of this instrument, having envisioned an instrument that would merge the characteristics of the erhu with the science of the Cello.

Most orchestras prefer to use the Cello and it is common for composers to simply write for the Cello in a Chinese orchestra rather than for a gehu.

Scored identically to the Cello, the instrument employs almost all of the Cello’s techniques as well as those of the erhu. The instrument is, however, fast being replaced by the Cello, as most composers and conductors have found the Cello to possess a thicker timbre, a more established tonal quality and a larger volume.

The bass gehu, the largest of all huqin instruments, is a variation of the Western Double Bass.

The gehu functions similarly to the Cello and the Bass, and has techniques and scoring identical to those instruments.  However, musicians often complain that the gehu is softer in volume and not as rich sounding as its Western counterpart.
 
The instrument’s instability and relative unresponsiveness requires the performer to be careful with his strokes and bow pressure. It has been argued that there is a need for at least two gehus to produce the volume equivalent of a single Cello.  However, as the gehu is a hybrid huqin form, the instrument possibly blends more easily into the Chinese orchestra than the Western Cello.