Strings 

Bowed and 2-stringed Instruments (Huqin):

Instrument	Brief Description	Listen
Huqin
	Hu Qin refers to a group of Chinese instruments played with a bow. There is not a specific instrument called a HuQin Hu means 'Foreign' or 'Barbarian' (Probably referring to an ancient Northern nomadic people called the 'Xi'). Today both Qin and HuQin mean 'Stringed musical instrument' more...	No Link
HuQin
Banhu
	Banhu (Wood Faced Fiddle) Its name comes from the wooden soundboard covering the half globular resonating coconut chamber. Of its many other names the most prominent may be banhu, referring to its historical use in the northern bangzi opera in the mid-seventeenth century. From them on it came to accompany many other regional operas and popular narratives, spreading over north, northwest and northeast China. That betrays the origin of its strong local opera styles. The two strings are generally tuned a fifth, or a fourth, apart. Strident and bight in tone quality and characteristic of glissando, the banhu is used as a solo instrument and one of the bowed strings in the modern Chinese orchestra. Please visit our new Banhu page wich offers a full description with pictures, and many tracks for free download more...	External Link
Dahu
	The dahu (大胡, pinyin: dàhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with python skin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument is generally pitched one octave below the erhu, and is considerably larger than the erhu. Its name derives from the Chinese word for "large" (dà), and the word hú (short for huqin). Its bridge is often placed somewhat above the centre of the snakeskin to avoid stretching the skin more...	No Link
DaHu
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Dihu
	Large Chinese bowed instrument of the HuQin family. This one is a bass version giving a three-quarter bass like sound when played DiHu pictured along with an ErHu more...	No Link
DiHu
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Erhu
	Erhu (Second Fiddle) The erhu (Chinese: 二胡; pinyin: èrhú), also called nanhu (南胡, "southern fiddle"), and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular instrument in the huqin (胡琴) family of Chinese bowed string instruments, together with the zhonghu (中胡), gaohu (高胡), banhu (板胡), jinghu (京胡), sihu (四胡), and numerous others.. A typical erhu measures 81cm from top to bottom, the length of the bow also being 81cm. Please visit our new Erhu page wich offers a full description with pictures, and many tracks for free download more...	External Link (Play from linked website)
Gaohu
	The Gaohu and the Zhonghu are common doubles for Erhu players. The Gaohu is higher pitched and the Zhonghu is the alto version. This instrument first appears after 1104 in the Song Dynasty. The Gaohu is particularly used in Southern China. Because of its mellow tone quality, the Gaohu is chiefly used in Cantonese music, where isis usually called a 'YueHu'. It can be used as a solo instrument normally for lively and merry music pieces. more...	External Link
GaoHu	Download Source: Video of Mr Yu Qiwei performing the gaohu piece Ping Hu Qiu Yue (平湖秋月, Autumn Moon On Calm Lake). Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3BWTmcrbl0
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Gehu
	The gehu (革胡; pinyin: géhú) is a Chinese instrument developed in the 20th century by the Chinese musician Yang Yusen (杨雨森, 1926-1980). It is a fusion of the Chinese huqin family and the cello. Its four strings are also tuned (from low to high) C-G-D-A, exactly like the cello's. Unlike most other instruments in the huqin family, the bridge does not contact the snakeskin, which faces to the side. There is also a contrabass gehu that functions as a Chinese double bass, known as the diyingehu, digehu, or beigehu (倍革胡). more...	External Link
GeHu	Link Source: Video of a piece for gehu and Chinese traditional instrument orchestra, entitled 草原风情 ("Grasslands Character and Style"), performed by Dong Jinchi (董金池), from CCTV: http://v.blog.sohu.com/u/vw/948118
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Jinghu
	Jinghu (First fiddle) The jinghu ("Beijing huqin") or the Chinese fiddle has two strings and a bow made of horsehair which is passed between the strings of the instrument. The bow comes in contact with the inside of one string and the outside of the other, alternating from one to the other as it is bowed back and forth. The fiddle has a shrill, piercing sound that is amplified through a snakeskin-covered sound box open at the back. It is held upright on the musician's knee. more...	External Link
JingHu	Link Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01397/mjinghu.htm Note: Opens a blank page, but plays an embedded sound extract
MaTouQin
	The matouqin, or horse-head fiddle, is a Mongolian instrument. Unusually the name is made up of three Chinese characters: Ma 馬 'Horse', Tou 頭 'Head, Qin 琴 'Fiddle'. It is called horse-head fiddle because the top of the pole is carved in the shape of a horse head more...	No Link
MaTouQin
Sanxian
	The instrument's name comes from the words sì (四), meaning "four" in Chinese, referring to the instrument's number of strings, and hú (胡), short for huqin, the family of instruments of which the sihu is a member. Its soundbox and neck are made from hardwood and the playing end of the soundbox is covered with python, cow, or sheep skin. There are several sizes of sihu; the lowest of these is generally tuned C, C, G, G; the medium size is tuned G, G, D, D; and the smallest size is tuned D, D, A, A. more...	External Link
SanXian	Download Source: (Play from linked website) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_7HxUQSxM Note: China has currently banned all contact with 'YouTube', therefore we trust this link provided by Wikipedia is correct (?)
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Sihu
	The instrument's name comes from the words sì (四), meaning "four" in Chinese, referring to the instrument's number of strings, and hú (胡), short for huqin, the family of instruments of which the sihu is a member. Its soundbox and neck are made from hardwood and the playing end of the soundbox is covered with python, cow, or sheep skin. There are several sizes of sihu; the lowest of these is generally tuned C, C, G, G; the medium size is tuned G, G, D, D; and the smallest size is tuned D, D, A, A. more...	Internal Link
SiHu	Download Source: (Play from linked website) http://www.s-o-n.net/sihu01.htm
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Yehu
	The yehu (椰胡; pinyin: yēhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. Ye means coconut and hu is short for huqin. It is used particularly in the southern coastal provinces of China and in Taiwan. The instrument's soundbox is made from a coconut shell, which is cut on the playing end and covered with a piece of coconut wood instead of the snakeskin commonly used on other huqin instruments such as the erhu or gaohu. As with most huqin the bow hair passes in between the two strings more...	No Link
YeHu	The Vietnamese 'DanGao' is a very closely related instrument
Zhonghu
	The zhonghu is the same as the erhu but is slightly larger and is lower pitched. Its body is covered on the playing end with snakeskin. The instrument has two strings, which are generally tuned to the interval of a fifth, to A and E or to G and D (this latter tuning equivalent to the violin's lowest two strings). more...	No Link
ZhongHu
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Zhuihu
	The zhuihu (坠胡, pinyin: zhùihú; also called zhuiqin or zhuizixian) is a two-stringed bowed string instrument from China. In construction, it resembles the sanxian, and likely evolved as a bowed version of that instrument. Unlike other bowed string instruments in the huqin family (such as the erhu), the zhuihu has a fretless fingerboard against which the strings are pressed while playing. more...	No Link
ZhuiHu	:

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Wikipedia   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traditional_Chinese_musical_instruments

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