A Historical Account of the Chinese Two-Stringed Fiddle Erhu

Author(s): Jonathan Stock

Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 46 (Mar., 1993), pp. 83-113
Published by: Galpin Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842349
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http://www.jstor.org
 JONATHAN STOCK

A Historical Account of the

Chinese Two-Stringed Fiddle
Erhu *

1. INTRODUCTION

erhuis a
dominantformof two-stringedspikefiddlecurrently
THE Chinaandin Chinesecommunities
foundthroughout overseas.Itis
used by professionalaccompanistsin regionaldramaticmusic, by
amateursaspartof variousrecreational
instrumental ensemblestyles,by
streetbeggarsand,overthe lastseventyyears,by conservatory-trained
musiciansin a growingrepertoireof concertsolos, ensemblesand
orchestralmusic. Although previous research,principallyby Dr
LaurencePicken, has addressedearly forms of Chinese friction-
chordophone(seePicken,1965;Wolpert,1974),littlehasbeenwritten
about the subsequentproliferationand developmentby Chinese
musiciansof these instrumentaltypes. Furthermore, the openingof
mainlandChinato Westernresearchers and the expandingscope of
Chinesemusicologyduringthe last ten years have resultedin the
appearanceof materialwhichshedsnew lightuponthe earlyhistoryof
Chinese two-stringed fiddles. It is thus now possible to reassess the
origins of Chinese bowed instruments, and to consider the rise of the
erhu, the most commonly encountered form of two-stringed fiddle in
contemporary China. Before doing so, however, those unfamiliar with
this instrument may find helpful a brief description of its appearance,
construction and manner of performance (see also Thrasher, 1984).

* Chinesetermscitedin thisarticlehavebeen romanized

followingthepinyin
system (see Glossary,p.107). Personalnamesare written in the standard
Chinesefashion,i.e. surnamefirst.Fornon-Chineseinstruments(e.g. qobuz),
spellingsfollow thoseusedin TheNew GroveDictionaryof Musical
Instruments
(London,1984).
83
 Head

Bow

+-- Tuning Pegs

4-- Restraining Loop

Bow Hair -

------ Strings

Neck

---- Body
(Soundbox)
Snakeskin

Bridge

Stub

FIG. 1. Sketch
ofa typical Erhu,withbowdetached.
modern
84
 CONSTRUCTION,AND PERFORMANCE
2. APPEARANCE,
OF THE MODERNERHU
The woodensoundboxof an erhuis diametrically piercedby a long,
roundedwoodenneck(seeFig.1). Twosteelstringsarefastenedto the
protruding lowerendof thispoleandthen,by meansof a smallbamboo
bridge, passedoverthe snakeskinfaceof the hexagonalsoundbox.
are
Afterbeingconstrained by a loop of cord,the stringsarewoundonto
tuningpegs, which arethemselves dorsallyinsertedintothe upperpart
of the neck.Bow hairmadefromhorsetailis fed betweenthe strings
before being reattachedto the bamboobowstick,a practicewhich
decisivelyaffectsperformance techniqueand,thus,the musicalstyleof
the erhu.
Additionalfeaturesmayincludea restbelow the soundbox,a small
pieceof materialwedgedbelow the bridgewith the aimof deadening
unwantedvibrationsandsometimesa smallfine-tuningdevicefixedto
the shorterstring.The top of the pole maybe shapedandheadedwith
bone or carvedinto the likenessof a creature'shead.The cavityat the
rearof the soundboxis generallyornamentedwith wooden lattice-
work. A violin-stylefrog is now incorporatedon the bows of good
instruments.
A standard erhustandsapproximately 79 cm high,excludinganyrest,
andthe hexagonally-faced bodymeasures10cmin diameterand13cm
fromsnakeskinfrontto latticedrear.Manufacturers havefrequently
experimented withdifferentsizes,shapesandmaterials,suchastubular
soundboxes madefrombamboo,butthetypicaldesigndescribedhereis
accepted-asstandardby playersandcraftsmenalike.
The majorityof thesestandard instruments aremadein factories,of
whichthemostrenownedarethosein Beijing,Shanghai andSuzhou.In
bothShanghaiandSuzhou,factorieswere formedin the movementof
collectivismafterthe CommunistPartygainedpowerin 1949.1*This
was done by amalgamating privateworkshops,often of long and
illustrious tradition. Although the majority of instrumentsare
principallymachine-madeon a productionline, each factory still
employsa numberof oldercraftsmenwho hand-makeor hand-finish
specialistinstruments whilstinstructingyoungerapprentices.
To constructan erhu,the craftsmanbegins by cuttingstrips of
importedpadoukwoodintoplanksof appropriate sizesforthebody(six
pieces),neckandtuningpegs.The piecesaresmoothedby hand,with
particular attentionpaidto the edgesof the body.The tuningpegsare
* For
endnotes,see p.110ff.
85
carved, and holes for them are bored into the upper part of the shaped
neck and for the neck itself in two of the six body segments. Further
stages involve gluing the body partstogether and affixing the stretched
sheet of python skin. The bow is simply-fashioned,the bamboo rod
being shaped over heat, and horsehairattachedat both ends through a
variety of methods. Finally,the complete instrumentwill be assembled
and tested. Normally this processis spreadover the period of a monthor
more, allowing glued partsto dry thoroughly.Assuminghe devoted his
undivided attention to the fashioning of high quality instruments,a
skilled worker would be able to finish, stage by stage, a batch of thirty
instruments in six weeks. Craftsmen generally specialise in one
particularinstrument,although some also supervisethe hand-finishing
of lower qualityproductionline models. It is usualfor a high qualityerhu
to be built entirely by one man and signed by him upon its completion.
The longer of the two strings, which is tuned to a lower pitch, is
nearer to the player's body when the erhu is held in performance
position and is termed the inner string. The higher pitched string is
known as the outer string.The stringsare normallytuned a perfect fifth
apart,most regularlyto d' and a' respectively. Such a tuning yields an
effective compass of two and a half octaves (see Fig. 2).

1-8vi-,
A-
AMi - i

a)Tuningof openstrings. b) Effectivecompass.

FIG. 2. Standard
tuningandeffective of themodern
compass Erhu.

In orderto producethesenotes,the baseof the instrument is rested

upon the performer'supper left thigh with the snakeskin facing
diagonallyto thefrontandright.Therighthanddrawsthebowbackand
forth,selectingeitherthe higheror the lowerstringby exertingvaried
fingerpressureon thebowhair(seePls.VII(a)and(b)).Performance on
only one stringat a time is a basicfeatureof erhumusic.2(Pizzicatois
relativelyrarelyused.)Meanwhile,thelefthandsupports theerhu's neck,
changingpositionasrequiredto bringhigheror lowerpitcheswithinthe
reachofthe fingers.Bothstringsarefingeredsimultaneously, andallfour
fingersof theleft handmaybe employedto stopthestrings.Thefingers
presslightlyonthestrings;theydonotpushthemallthewaybacktotouch
the neck.A full descriptionof erhutechniquemaybe foundin Stock
(1991,pp.153-194).
86
 3. CLASSIFICATION
AND DISTRIBUTION
Traditional Chineseorganologyclassifiedinstruments accordingto the
'eight[sourcesof] sounds'or bayin:metal,stone,silk,bamboo,gourd,
earth,hideandwood (Kaufmann, 1976,pp.156-7; De Woskin,1982,
pp. 52-3; see alsoKartomi,1990,pp.37-9). Inthisclassificatory system
the materialChinesescholarsdeemedmost significantin the sound
productionof aninstrument decidedthecategoryto whichit belonged.
Theerhu,whichoriginallyhadstringsof silk,wasthusa memberof the
silk category.It was alsoclassedas a folk instrument,ratherthanas a
refinedone suitablefor use in courtrituals.In the West,the Sachs/
Hornbostelsystemclassifiesthe instrument as a spikelute, soundedby
bowing with a bow a
(321.31-71),being varietyof the handleluteclass
of compositechordophones(Hornbostel& Sachs,1961,p.23). More
conveniently,thisnamemaybe summarised as 'spikefiddle'.Thespike
hererefersto the lower end of the handleor neckof the instrument,
whichtransfixes thesoundboxto emergeattheerhu's base.Inthecaseof
the modernerhu,thisspikeis vestigial,functioningonlyasa convenient
stubto whichthe stringsmaybe attachedbut on otherinstruments of
this kind, the spike acts as a supportfor the instrumentduring
performance.
The spikefiddleis currentlyindigenousto manycultures,ranging
fromJapanto Mauritania and fromIndonesiato Turkey.In manyof
these countriesthe instrumentis consideredto have been imported,
perhapsby IslamictradersandsettlersfromtheNearEast.Thearrivalof
the spike fiddle in Chinais a point of some contentionand will be
discussedbelow. Manydifferentformsof spike fiddle are foundin
China,theerhubeinga namegivenfairlyrecentlyto themostprominent
of them.Inorderto controlthelengthof thefollowinghistoricalreview
however,discussionof other Chineseformsof spike fiddle hasonly
been includedwhen the developmentof theseinstruments impinged
directlyupon that of the erhuitself or when documentedhistorical
factorspertainingto an alternativefiddle form provide a possible
explanationof factorsalso relevantto the erhu.

4. HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT
(i) Introduction
In the discussionbelow, recoursehasbeen madeto historicalrecords,
poetry, literature, folk stories, paintings, sculptures,preserved
instruments,philological data and ethnomusicologicaltheory as
appropriate.However, much of this evidence must be treated
87
cautiously.In the caseof terminology,the samename,simultaneously
or subsequently,maybe appliedto morethanone instrument; the same
instrument be
may given more thanone name or maychangeradically
whilstretainingits originalname;or the nameof an instrumentmay
changewhilstit retainsits basiccharacteristics. The interpretation of
and
iconographic poetic sources, for theirpart, restson the (normally
unknown)assumptions thatthe artistor poet is both familiarwith the
instrumentin questionand desiresto portrayit accurately.
Sincemanydifferentinstrumental formsare mentionedbelow, the
mostimportantearlycitationsof key instruments havebeenabstracted
andarrangedin Table1. Generalcommentsconcernedwiththe means
of stringexcitationemployedandtheuseof eachinstrument by certain
peopleor in certainkindsof musichavebeen addedwhereavailable,
and the date and name of the early source which containsthis
information(and/ora contemporary referencediscussingit) havebeen
provided.Furtherdetailsof each of these instruments and sourcesis
given in the accountbelow.
The first part of the followingaccountconsidersthe origin and
formatof bowedinstruments in ancientChina.The secondexamines
the subsequent adaptation andpopularisationof the two-stringed fiddle
form duringthe thirteenthto seventeenthcenturies.The historical
accountis broughtup to 1992in the thirdsection,whichcoverstherise
of the two-stringedfiddleto a positionof someprominencein many
musicalgenres.Finally,briefattentionis paidto theaestheticidentityof
the fiddleformwithinChina,andto Chineseperceptionsof the erhu's
future.
or invention?
(ii) Ingress Up toA.D. 1279
Thissectionexaminesthe antecedentsof the erhuandthe introduction
of theconceptof bowingin China.It attemptsto answerthequestionof
whetherthe bowed spike fiddle was importedto China as a self-
contained,sound-producing deviceor was assembledtherefrompre-
existingbut discreteelements.Consideration is given to the cultural
stimuliandgeographical routesthatcouldhavecontributedto the rise
of suchan instrument.Before these, however,the etymologyof the
name erhuitself and relevantfolk stories and legends are briefly
inspected.
Chineseetymologydeclarestheerhuaninstrument introduced by the
'Hu',the 'Barbarians of the NorthandWest'.Thenameerhuis derived
from the older but not archaicterm huqin,which may be literally
translatedas 'barbarian
[hu]stringinstrument [qin]'.Sinceermeanstwo,
the word 'erhu'maybe glossedby a contemporary Chinieseas a two-
88
 TABLE1. Summaryof SignificantEarlyCitationsof ChineseFriction-
InstrumentDateof Citation Meansof Excitation Region/Group
Yazheng mid 8th Century Pressed,ya, with a Domestic
moistened-tipped entertainmentmusic
bambooslip
Zheng 1257 Pressed,ya, with Urbanentertainment
moistenedbamboo ensemble
Jiqin mid 8th Century Drawn,yin, by bamboo [Not stated]

Jiqin early 13th Century Pressed,ya, by a [Not stated]

bambooslip

Xiqin mid 11th Century Plucked,tan Xi people

Xiqin 1101 Pressed,ya, by a 'Popularamongstthe
bambooslip people'
Huqin 754-757 [Not stated]

Huqin 825 Strummed,bola

Mawei late 11thCentury [Not stated] NW 'Barbarians'

huqin
Huqin late 14thCentury Twisted,lie, by a bow Courtensembles
'No
00
 stringed instrument adopted from the northwestern barbariansof
antiquity.Perhapsbecausesucha suggestiveorganologicalattributionto
a borderingpeople exists in the names of these types of Chinese fiddle,
their invention or discovery has not been ascribed to some historical
or mythological figure, as is the case with certain other Chinese
instruments.
This is in direct contrastto the folk stories retainedby some of the
Chinese minority races, the Mongols to the northwest,the Zhuangand
the Miao to the southwest, for instance.Each of these peoples has their
own form of two-stringed fiddle, all of which are held to be derived
from a horse or ox. The originalMongolian horse-headfiddle matouqin
[morinkhuur]and Zhuang horse-bone fiddle maguhuare claimed to be
the remainsof a slain celestial or earthlymount reanimatedinto fiddle
form by the bereavedmaster,possiblyfollowing instructionsreceived in
a dream. The Miao description of their instrument,the ox-leg fiddle
niutuiqinis more mundane:3a poor villager loses his ox in a wrestling
match and thereaftercarriesaroundits broken leg to illustratehis sorry
plight. When the leg putrefies,he constructsa wooden replicawhich, in
turn, is eventually strung and bowed to become a musical instrument
(see Yuan & Zhao, 1989, pp.121-9).
The significanceof these storiesto the origin of the erhuis that each of
these peoples traditionallyconsiders their instrumentto be their own
creation, not an imported object. It is also known that the ancient
Chinese court imported musicians, their repertoires and instruments
from its border areas.Nonetheless, it would at presentbe prematureto
conclude that the bowed fiddle originated amongst these cultures and
was subsequentlytransmittedeastwards,since Chinese written records
of bowed fiddles predate those of the Mongols, Zhuangand Miao. It is
now pertinent to examine certain of these records.
As mentioned above, the term 'erhu'isa fairly recent derivationfrom
the older name 'huqin'.Written occurrencesof 'huqin'have been traced
back as far as the TangDynasty (A.D. 618-907). Reference to a huqinis
madein poems by Cen Shen (715-775), BaiJuyi (772-846) and LiuYuxi
(778-842) (see Picken, 1965, p. 86; Zhou, 1987, p. The earliestof
these, that of Cen Shen, dates from 754-757, that of45).4
BaiJuyi from 825.
Since these sources describe a plucked or strummed instrument,5if
mentioning at all how the huqinwas performed, there is no need to
examine them more now. Three hundred years later however, in the
eleventh century, 'huqin'appearsto have become the designationfor a
form of bowed instrument.This shift of nomenclaturehas disguisedthe
invention or adoption of bowed instrumentsby the Chinese; to shed
new light on this subject,it is helpful to surveythe rangeof Chinese and
90
foreigninstrumentsand movementsfrom which bowed instruments
may have resulted.
One of the earliest Chinese stringed instrumentssounded in some
wayotherthanby pluckingor strumming wasthezhu,thefivestringsof
whichwere struckwith a bamboorod (see Liuet al., 1987,pp.90-1,
in Liu et al., 1988,p. 55). This
342-3; Xiang, 1990;and illustrations
instrumentwas in use at least as early as 168 B.C. and was still found a
thousand years later in the Tang period entertainment orchestra.
Togetherwith it in this ensemblewas a relatedjiqin,or 'struckstring
instrument'(Xiu, 1989,I, p. 113),whichwas apparently performedat
the Sui Dynasty(581-618) court as well (Yang,1964/1981,pp.220,
255).Thezhu,aninstrument fromnorthernChina,mayhaveled to the
development of another instrumentcalledtheyazheng.On theyazheng,
however,the stringswere soundedthroughfrictionratherthan by
striking.
The earliest mentions of the yazhengappear to be those in the Old
TangHistory: MusicRecords andin a workby theeighth-century poetJiao
RanentitledObserving theTwoBeauties LiZhongandChengHongPerform
theYazheng Song(Yang,1964/1981,p.253; see alsoa slightlydifferent
readinggivenin Rault-Leyrat, 1987,p. 96). Fromtheseit appearsthat
the yazheng wasa formof zither[zheng]soundedthroughthe pressing
(ya)of the stringswith a moistened-tipped in
bambooslip (illustration
Liuet al., 1988,p. 125).6Therewasalsoa closelyrelatedinstrument, or
possiblyan alternativenamefor theyazheng(Miaoet al., 1985,p. 501),
the zheng,7describedin the EssentialRecord of ThingsandSorts,both
AncientandModern in HarmoniousCombination of 1257as: 'Thezheng's
shapeis like thatof the se [twenty-fivestringzither].Both endsare
completelysquare.Ithassevenstrings,sevenbridgesandis pressedwith
a moistened-tippedbamboo'. Although now uncommon,a few
instruments of thisformarestillin use, one varietybeingemployedto
accompany operain HebeiProvince(Miaoet al., 1985,pp.445-6).
local
Anothermaydate fromthe ChineseEmperorHuizong'soffer of the
yazheng,amongstotherinstruments, to the Koreancourtin 1116(Tran,
1985,p. 84), whereit becameknownas the ajaeng(see also Provine,
1984, pp.36-7). However,althoughthe stringsof the yazhengwere
soundedby frictionratherthanby strikingor plucking,the physical
formof theinstrument wasthatof a zither.Todrawnearerto theorigin
of the bowedfiddlein China,it is necessaryto considera numberof
instruments fromthe lute family.
The foremostof theseis thexiqin,theinstrument of theXi tribe.This
wasclassifiedas a foreigninstrument by the scholarChenYangin his
Bookof Musicof 1101(published1195),althoughhis descriptionof it
91
indicatesthathe alsoconsideredit fairlyold. SupportingChenYang's
opinion,TerenceLiu(1988,pp.29, 226)citesa poemby MengHaoren
(689-740) in which an instrument'drawn' (yin) by bamboo is
mentioned?The Xi tribe, reckonedone of the Hu peoplesby their
Chineseneighbours,were nomadicbarbarians who hadsplitinto two
branchesin thelateTangperiod.One of thesebrancheshadmigratedto
Hebeiand,later,HenanProvincesin centralChina,nottoodistantfrom
ChenYang'shomein the capital,thecitynowknownasKaifeng.Chen
Yangdescribesthe xiqinin these terms:
Thexiqinwasoriginally abarbarian instrument,
coming from the xiantao, whichit resembles,
andis verypopular amongst theXi tribe.It is
madewith two strings,betweenwhich a
bamboo slipis pressed,and,untiltoday,is used
the
amongst people...
The xiantao(literally 'strung rattle-
[drum]')wasa namegivento formsofpipa
[pear-shaped lute] in earliertimes.I have
beenunableto locateanyillustrations of it.
Picken (1955, p.34) has suggestedthis
appellationreflectedan attemptby xeno-
phobicscholarsto explainhow thepopular
pipawas not an importedinstrumentbut a
genuineChinese(forwhichread'respect-
able')inventionafter Picken'sargument
all. thatthe pictureof
is supportedby the fact
the xiqinin Chen Yang'sbook shows a
tubularbody piercedby a long, probably
bamboo,handleto which two stringsare
connectedby frontally-inserted pegs. The
shape of the is in
pipa pear-like comparison,
with bodygraduallymerginginto neck.If
the xiantaowas a type of pipathen Chen
Yang'sillustrationof the xiqin,which he
saidresembledthexiantao, wouldsurelybe
quite different. This illustration is repro-
ducedas Fig.3.
OtherSongDynasty(960-1279)records
of the xiqindescribeits performance tech-
niquebutdo notrecordfurtherdetailsof its FIG. 3.
structure.Aswill be discussedbelow,these ChenYang's
two elements are linked, the structure Xiqin.
92
precludingor enhancingthe effectivenessof certain techniques.
Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) writes: 'The xiqin was a Xi domestic
instrument; whentheypluckit tearsfall frombotheyes'.10LiuChang
(quoted Xue, 1990,p.80) relatesthat'TheXi people'sqinwasusedon
in
horseback,... it hasprobablynot the mostnotesof all, yet they are
convenientfor the handandsoundcontinuous'.In the firstof thesethe
poet describesa plucked instrument,in the second the use of
'continuous'('unbroken' wouldalsobe a possibletranslation)
couldbe
takento infera bowedsound,butwhetherbowedwitha bambooslipor
by some othermeansis not clear.
To achieveresonanceon the stoppedstringsof a pluckedlute it is
necessaryto pressthe soundedstringagainsta fingerboard (or fret),so
if, as OuyangXiu'sdescriptionsuggests,the xiqincouldbe performed
by plucking,it musthavebeenformedin a waythatpermittedthis.On
theotherhand,it wouldbe difficultto inserta bambooslipbetweenthe
stringsof an instrumentwitha fingerboard. Theremaythushavebeen
two differentinstruments,bothnamedxiqin,a pluckedversionwith a
fingerboardand one, structuredas in Fig.3, soundedby a bamboo
slip.
Connectedto thexiqinwasaninstrument(mentionedin the citation
of MengHaoren'spoem above)now pronouncedasjiqin.Thesemay
have been the same instrument, the latter being an alternate name
preferredby the Chinesecourt.Gao Chengtells us thatthisjiqinwas
shaped like the older xiantaoand not quite like the pipa. Detailing the
xiantaoin hisA Recordof OriginsandCollections
of Varieties
compiled 1078-
86) he describesa handleone 'foot' (chi)long with a strungdrumhead
attached to the end. This seems to indicate the type of instrument
illustratedby Chen Yangratherthanthe pluckedversionof Ouyang
Xiu.ShenKuo(1031-95),in hisMengxiMemoirs, writesof anincidentin
the Xining reign (1068-77) when the palace entertainerXu Yan
performedthejiqin.Despitethe snappingof one string,Xu was able
to carry on, using only the remainingone (Hu, 1956, p. 918).
Unfortunately however,earlySongDynastyaccountsdo not describe
how thejiqinwasplayed,andit is not untilthe late Song- earlyYuan
Dynasty(1271-1368)writerChenYuanjing's A ComprehensiveRecordof
a ForestofAffairs(firstpublishedbetween1264-1294)thatwe findout
morethanwe knew fromMengHaoren'seighth-century poem cited
above."Chen states:'Twostringsare pressedby a bambooslip; the
soundis clearand resonant'.Once again,Chen Yang'sdescriptionis
confirmed, and an instrumentalform without a fingerboardis
inferred.
Sofar,thisaccounthasmovedfromtheearlypluckedhuqinbywayof
93
the struckzhuandjiqintowardsthe friction-sounded yazhengandzheng
andthenceto the two-stringed xiqinandjiqin.Descriptionsof theselast
instruments that
suggest they existed in bothpluckedandpressedforms,
andthatthe formatof the pressedversionwasprobablythatportrayed
by Chen Yang.For the terminologyto returnfull-circleto huqin,a
furtherdevelopmentoccurred,one which was to radicallyalterthe
sonorityof Chinesemusicin ages to come and createa whole new
categoryof instruments,those bowedwith horse-hair.
Theagentof thischangemayhavebeenthemaweihuqin,or 'horse-tail
huqin',first describedby Shen Kuo (Hu, 1956, pp.224-5) in his
Songof Triumph:
Themawei huqinfollowedtheHanchariot,
Itsmusicsounding of complaint to the Khan.
Do notbendthebowto shootthe goosewithintheclouds,
Thereturning goosebearsno letter.

Zhong(1989,p.34) describesthe maweihuqinin Shen'slyricsas a

metaphorfor barbarian prisoners-of-war led behindthe Chinese(Han
race)army. The bent bow described in the thirdline of the paeanhe
as a
interprets picture of the arched bow used to playthishuqin,andthe
instrument's sound,he suggests,was suitablefor the expressionof the
capturedwarriors'resentmenttowardstheirdefeatedleader.The Song
DynastyauthorChengDachang(1123-1195)commentsin hisSequelto
Numerous ThingsRevealedthatthese(andother)stanzasprepared by Shen
Kuoforvictorycelebrations werelaterwrittendownanddisseminated
by Shenas poems(Hu 1956,p.227).
If Zhong'sinterpretation is correct,the instrumentmusthavebeen
well
sufficiently established amongsttheHu to portraythemin thisway
to the intended(Chinese)readersof Shen'spoems;it thereforewould
havebeenin use for sometimebeforethe lateeleventhcentury.If the
maweihuqinresembledthe pluckedhuqinalreadyknownin Chinaand
thispluckedinstrument wasstillin use whenShenwrote,thenthe use
of bothhuqinandof 'horsetail'as a qualifierfor the new instrument is
explained.On the otherhand,it maybe thatthe maweihuqinwas so
named simply because it was a Hu instrument,'horsetail'being
descriptiveratherthan qualifyingin function.Shouldthis be so, it
cannotbe assumedthatthenewversionnecessarily resembledtheolder,
pluckedhuqin.It is worthremembering thatShenKuodidnot describe
the shapeof the maweihuqin,or evengive its numberof strings.It also
remainspossiblethatmaweirefersto the materialof the stringsrather
thanthe bow hair,in which case the instrumentmaynot be bowed
94
at all.'2Toclarifythe relationship, if any,betweenthesedifferenttypes
of huqin,it is first necessaryto sift a little more early evidenceof
importedinstrumental forms.
A SongDynastypainting,A Tribal ChiefEnjoying Music(a detailof
whichis reproducedin Liuet al., 1988,p.125),13 showsone of these:a
four-stringed, pear-shaped instrumentplayedby a musicianholdinga
long,straightstick(thefaintnessof thepictureandtheperspective of the
bowinghanddo notpermita clearview of thisstick,butif it is a horse-
hair bow, it is certainlya much flatterone than any seen in other
iconographicrecordsuntil those of this century).Significantly,the
performers wouldappearto be beardedbarbarians (Hu).If thispicture
is reliable,it meansthatyet anothervarietyof friction-chordophone was
usedin Chinaduringthisperiod,againby foreignmusicians.In their
commentaryon A TribalChiefEnjoying Music,Liuet al. (ibid.,p. 125)
statethattheinstrument is shapedlikea qobuz. Anduponexaminingthe
qobuz in turn, a tenuouslink back to the earlier
pluckedformof huqinis
uncovered.
The qobuz,in Chinesetransliteration huobusior huobisi,
is a Turkic/
CentralAsianlute, long known in China, with a small,snakeskin-
coveredwoodenbellyattachedto a longneck(Picken,1965,p. 86).The
resonatingchamberof the instrument maybe rounded,althoughthisis
disguised on the assembled instrument by taperingshouldersconnecting
the soundboxto the neck.This formis sharedby two survivingTang
Dynastypluckedinstruments engravedwiththe namehulei,nowin the
PalaceMuseum(Liuet al., 1987,pp.109-10;photographs in Liuet al.,
1988,p. 99). QianYi'sNew Bookof theSouth,writtenduringthe early
eleventhcentury,maydescribethispairof instruments (Zhong,1989,
p.33):
HanJingong wentintoSichuan wherehefelleda raretreewhichwasastough
as purplestone. Craftsmensaid 'For the huqin'sbody, its wood is
incomparable'. Itwassatisfactoryfortwoqin:a largeonecalledthelargehulei
anda smallone calledthe smallhulei.

Noting the interchangeabilityof huqinand huleiin this and other

records,Zhong(ibid.,pp.34-5, 37) linksthe huleito the pluckedhuqin
of theTangperiod.He thenextendshisrelationship to includeapaoqin,
or 'gourdstringinstrument', froma capturedFunaneseorchestrafrom
the southwestandpresent-day southwesternminorityraceinstruments,
suchastheMiaoniutuiqin discussedabove,by pointingout thatSichuan
province,the site of this tree-fellingexpedition,is also in China's
southwest.Thiswouldsuggest(althoughhe doesnot stateit explicitly)
95
that Zhong considersthe form of the modernerhuto be descendedfrom
the combination within China of elements originally from China's
southwest. Difficulties with this theory include the unproven
assumption that southwestern instruments have remained almost
unchanged for more than a thousandyears. Strongerevidence of this
would be requiredto successfullychallenge Picken's theory of greater
modification of the lute form in regions central to its development
(1975, p. 572):
The rangeof modificationin peripheralregionsof the areaof distribution -
peripheral,thatis, in relation
to the centreof or -
origin dispersion will tendto
be lessthanthatin theregionof origin:andindeedthe iconography of lutesin
CentralAsiashowsa muchgreatervarietyof formstherethanin the Western,
or Eastern,peripheralzones.
Other theories have been offered too. Zhou (1987, pp. 45-6) outlines
a scenariowherein one-stringedbowed instrumentsexisted as long ago
as 3000 B.C. in Arabia. However, their transmissionto China was
delayed because the mounted lifestyle of the tribes in China's western
reaches made the use by them of bowed instrumentsimpossible. Only
when these people began to settle could the transmissionthroughthem
begin to take place. This theory certainly appearsdoubtful: after all,
there were other routes to China than through these nomads, the
Central Asian states early achieved a high level of development and
were long in contact with China before any such transmissiontook
place. Also, accordingto Zhou, those who addedthe second stringwere
the Mongols, not themselves known for a marked aversion to
equestrianism. However, the proto-erhu reached China, Zhou
continues, not throughthe Mongol horse-headfiddle but by way of the
Persiankamanche and Uighur aijieke(both are forms of spike fiddle) in
perhaps the fourteenth century. This suggestion is also unsatisfactory,
since it takes no account of earlier Chinese sources, such as Shen Kuo's
maweihuqin.
Although Zhou may be correctto ascribeto the people of the Middle
East an early role in the development of bowed instruments,the first
mention of what may be a horsehairbow there dates from the tenth
century, not 3000 B.C.This is the description by the Persiantheorist
al-Fdrabi(872-950) of an instrumentalcategory, 'the stringsof which
are made to sound by rubbing them together with other strings(autdr)
or with some material resembling strings' (Bachmann,1969, p. 25).
Zhou's descriptionof the transmissionof the bowed fiddle also seems
overly complicated;after all, China had long had well-establishedland
and sea links with Central Asia and the Middle East. Adshead'sanalysis
96
anddescription of theseroutesmakesclearthatculturalexchangewasat
least as significantas tradeduringthe fifth to tenth centuries(1988,
p.79), one examplebeingthe well-documented importof foreignand
minority raceorchestras the and
by Sui TangDynasties.Presumably, the
acquisition of new musicians and instrumental forms would have
stimulatedthe transmission of new performancetechniquesas well.
Majormigrationsof peoples,suchas the splittingof the Xi tribeinto
twoparts,wouldalsohavespeededa processof transmission of musical
ideasandinstruments fromoneareato another.Insuchanenvironment,
theuseof a horsehair bowto soundstringedinstruments couldthushave
been passedrelativelyquicklyfromPersiato China.
The progressof bowedinstruments overlandto Chinais suggestive
of a CentralAsianinvolvementin theircreationor popularisation: a
Near-Easterninstrumentmight have been expectedto spreadmore
quicklyby seato China'ssouthernandeasterncoastlinebeforereaching
the interior.Further,the affinityof the Mongolsfor theirown two-
stringedinstruments, 'mostpleasantto hear'accordingto MarcoPolo
(Emsheimer, 1986, p. 9), the barbarianportrayedplaying a four-
stringed bowed lute in A TribalChiefEnjoying Music,and ShenKuo's
veryterm'huqin', allsupportanoverlandingressfromChina'swestand
north.
To summarisethe discussionso far,it maybe saidthatthe popular
etymologyof the huqin-erhu stands,althoughit ignoresthe probable
creatorsof this form of lute, and laterits bow, recognisingonly the
middlemenwho broughtthecompositeitem,thebowedlute,to China.
It furtherdisregards theexistenceof anddevelopmentwithinChinaof a
widevarietyof friction-lutes and-zithersplayedby meansof a bamboo
slip.Thepresenceof theseinstruments preparedthe foundationforthe
acceptanceof bowedlutesandprovideda readysupplyof instruments
which,even if they did not follow the exactstructuraldesignof the
importedhuqin,could easily adopt its horse-hairbow technology.
Adoptionof thistechnicaldevelopmentin Chinamaywell havebeen
fuelledby the creationof new musicalformssuchas the urbanxiyue
['elegantmusic'] ensembleof the Song Dynasty.The patronsand
musiciansof new genres of this kind, which providedup-to-date
entertainment music,wouldhavebeen less likelyto resistthe use of a
new instrument or a novelperformance techniqueon an adaptedolder
one.
Thus, I suggest that the horsehair-bowed lute, the conceptual
ancestorof today'serhu,was importedintactinto China, by, at the latest,
the late eleventh century. Once there, it was grafted onto the more
establishedtraditionof bamboo-pressedfriction chordophones. Given

97
the necessarystimulusof musicianscalling for a sustainablestringsound
for use in new musical forms, the players of these latter instruments
might have in time developed the use of the horsehair bow
themselves.

(iii) Adaptationand acceptance,1279-1644

At the end of his examinationof early Chinese friction-chordophones,
Picken (1965, p. 89) concludes:'At what stagethe Chinese huqinof Yuan
times ceased to be like a huobisi[qobuz](presumablya handle lute) and
turnedinto the spike lute of the Qing Dynasty [1644-1911] remainsto
be determined'.This determinationmay now take place, although the
process of change appears not to be quite as straightforwardas the
replacementof one lute style with another. In fact, the suggestionthat
the Yuan huqin'turned into' the Qing spike lute is misleading, since
varieties of friction-sounded spike lute already existed in the Yuan
Dynasty, as is shown in the muralsof the tenth grotto at Yulin in Gansu
Province (reproducedin Liu et al., 1988, p. 126) and by the illustration
of the xiqin in Chen Yang'sBookof Music.14
This question is bound to organology: the differing designs of
Chinese fiddles in this period reflect alternatetechnologicalapproaches
to how the bow hair and stringsmay be brought into contact above a
resonatingsoundbox. The first of these approachesmerely adds a bow
to a standardlute shape. Some modification of the bridge may allow
easieraccessto the strings.There is typicallya fingerboard,and the bow,
by necessity,is playedoutside the strings,not fed between them. Tuning
pegs would normally be inserted from one or both sides and the
effective stringlength in use would be from the bridge on the soundbox
to the 'lip' at the top of the fingerboard.
The second approachinvolves a smallersoundbox pierced by a long
neck. A fingerboardis unlikely becausethe bow hair,insertedbetween
the strings, needs to pass over the soundbox close to the neck to gain
maximumresonance.Tuningpegs may be inserteddorsallyor frontally
and a restrainingloop may be addedboth as a tuningregulator(without
this device or some form of 'lip', the distance between notes a tone
apart, for example, would be different on each string) and to ensure
even distancing between neck and strings. This second instrumental
form is extremely easy to constructand has been adaptedfrequentlyto
use differing materialsavailable across China.
Informationfrom the Yuan period also may be used to clarify the
issue of the structureof the xiqinandjiqin. Evidence such as the Yulin
mural,the survivingxiqinamongstthe Chinese Koreanminorityand the
haeg m [two-stringedfiddle) in Koreaitself all suggestthat the xiqinhad
98
 the form of a spike lute, as in Chen Yang'sillustration.Possiblybecause
the bamboo slip had been inserted between the strings, the same
techniquewas appliedto the new technology of the horsehairbow. The
haegiim reached the Korean court between 1116 and 1392 and shares
with Chen Yang'sxiqinfrontally-insertedtuning pegs. On the modern
Koreaninstrumentthe bow hairis fed between the stringsand an image
of it from the early fifteenth century suggests, in line with Picken's
theory of minimalmodificationin peripheralplaces, that there hasbeen
little technologicaldevelopment of it to the presentday.5 Significantly,
the Koreanshave retainedtwo ways of writing the name of this kind of
instrument in Chinese characters,one of which is read in modern
Chinese as xiqinand the other asjiqin.This would appearto confirm the
identification of xiqinandjiqin as two names for the same instrument.
Another such peripheral region is Fujian Province of southeastern
China. This area has retainedthe frontally-insertedtuning pegs of the
xiqin, its bamboo neck and wooden-faced tubularsoundboxin its erxian
(literally'two-stringed[instrument]').The age of the erxianis attestedto
by its mention in a Song Dynasty story (Xue, 1990, vol. III, p.79):
Jin Yanand He Yu went out of the city as they travelledwest in spring...
Passinga wine shop,they satupstairswhereYantook an erxianto 'press'and
Yu playedwith him on the xiaoguan [verticalbambooflute].
An erxianis also held by the figure of a flying deity in the Purple
Cloud Hall of the Kaiyuan Temple at Quanzhou, also in Fujian
Province. This instrumentis presumed to date from restorationwork
carriedout during the Ming Dynasty Chongzhen reign (1628-1644).16
Discussion of the haegim and erxian introduces the widening
employment of spike lutes during the thirteenth to seventeenth
centuries.By now, certain Chinese palace entertainmentinstrumental
ensembles had begun to include the huqinand, accordingto the writer
Tao Zongyi (1316- after 1365), the huqinwas also makingsits presence
felt in a popular 'Mongolian-style' string ensemble genre known as
dadayue(Liu et al., 1987, p.347). This was in addition to its existing
employment noted above in urbanensembles and the homes of such as
the Xi people. Suchan improvementof positionis also testified to by the
huqin'sinclusion in the official YuanHistory(produced 1369-70, see
Zhong 1989, p.36): 'The huqinis constructedlike the huobusi,with a
scrolled neck, dragon'shead and two strings,which are twisted['lie']by
a bow.17The bow stringis horsetail'.A processof adaptationhad begun,
most prominentof which was the use of the horsetailbow on the spike
lute shape. In this combination was born the physical ancestor of the
modernerhu,as opposed to its conceptualpredecessormentioned at the
end of the first part of this account.

99
 A small technical feature encountered in art works of the Ming
Dynasty period (1368-1644) is the use of the restrairiingloop, first
recorded in China on a tubular huqinin the late sixteenth-century
paintingAutumnEntertainment at theUnicornHall by You Ziqiu (Liuet al.,
1988, p. 169).18As mentioned above, this loop has the effect of limiting
the vibratingpart of each string to the same length, as well as ensuring
that they remain at a balanced height. Without this loop, or a kind of
fingerboard'lip', the huqinwould be difficult to play in tune since the
player would have to familiarise himself with different fingering
distanceson each stringto producethe samerelativeintervals.Although
Chinese musicologistsdate the loop from its appearancein this painting,
it is difficultto conceive how the instrumentshown in Chen Yang'sBook
of Music(and reproducedin Fig.3) could have been performedwithout
one, unlessone stringwas used as a droneonly and melodies fingeredon
the other. It seems more plausible that this detail was overlooked on
earlier paintings of Chinese spike fiddles (which are very few in
number). Chen Yang'sxiqin is, after all, pictured without its bamboo
slip.
Names of instrumentswere as fluid as their designsduring the Ming
Dynasty. For example, recordsnote the constructionof a form named
the tiqinto accompanythe literarykunquopera style?9It would appear
that musiciansin many regions of China gave the spike fiddle a new
name when they adopted it and adapted the general design of the
instrument to increase its suitability for the local style of opera,
whatever that might be. Adaptationscould be physical,relating to size
and materials, or conceptual, concerning the fiddle's role and
responsibilitiesin the accompanying ensemble as well as stipulating
featuressuch as registerand tuning. This processbegan towardsthe end
of the Ming Dynasty but became importantonly during the following
Qing.
To summarise,the period 1279-1644 saw a widespreadacceptanceof
the fiddle by musiciansall acrossChina. This acceptancewas tempered
by an equally widespreadpropensity for adaptationof the instrument
and a gradualdecline of the qobuz-shaped huqinform. At the end of this
period, 'huqin'appearsto have meant what it does today: any one of a
variety of Chinese spike fiddles with bow hair fed between two strings
tuned a fifth apart and regulated by a loop of cord.

(iv) Promotionandproliferation
1644-1992
The thirdphase of the erhu'shistory has been dominatedby the themes
of proliferationand promotion, for in this period the spike fiddle has
enteredalmostevery musicalform in China, gaininga principalposition
100
in many.Itsadoptionby certainoperastyleshasalreadybeennoted,and
by the mid-seventeenth centurythis facetof the huqin'semployment
was becomingmuchadmired.
It was with the rise of the bangziqiang familyof operaformsin the
earlyQingperiod that thehuqinis known to havefirstbeenaccordedan
importantmusicalpositionin anyof China'sdramaticgenres.Someof
these, especiallyin northernChina,employeda spike fiddle with a
wooden-facedsoundbox,a banhu,but the bestexampleof an operatic
huqinis thejinghu. Beijingopera,jingju orjingxi(literally'capitalopera'),
wasthe late-eighteenth-century fusionof two musicalsystems,xipiand
erhuang, eachof whichfunctionsasa set of melodic,structural andtonal
outlinesfrom which operaticmusiccould be readilycreatedduring
rehearsaland performance.Knowntogetheraspihuangqiang, the xipi
constituentis believed to have developedfrom variousbangziqiang
melodic,structuraland tonal outlinesfrom the provincesof Shanxi,
ShaanxiandHubeiwhiletheerhuang part,alsoknownashuqinqiang, was
derivedfromAnhuiProvinceoperastyles(Miaoet al., 1985,pp.293-4).
Beijingoperawas thus a cosmopolitanoperastyle drawingmaterial
frombothsouthernandnorthernChinaandalsofromlocalfolk music
andrefinedkunqu opera.Boththeneckandthesmalltubular,snakeskin-
facedbody of thejinghuare madeof bamboo.Its namecombinesthe
fing'[capital]of Beijingandthe 'hu'ofhuqin.Incommonwiththegreat
majorityof Chinesefiddles,the bow hairis fed permanently between
the strings.Old illustrationsshow a curvedbow slacklystrungwith
horsehair,but thiswas supersededduringthe nineteenthcenturyby a
straighterbow with continuallytauthair(Miaoet al., 1985,p. 199).
Many subsequentopera styles have been influenced by the
accompanimental style of Beijingopera.Forexample,Shanghaihuju
andZhejiangprovinceyuejubothhavetheirownmusicalstylesin which
the accompaniment is led by a fiddle. Typically,both genreshave
evolvedtheirown varietyof huqinto fulfil this role. Varietiesof erhu
were also adoptedby the performersof numerousformsof shuochang
andquyi,orballadsinging.Especiallyin thenorth,thefour-stringed sihu
(literally'four-stringedfiddle', with stringsarrangedin pairs:the
secondandfourthbeingtuneda perfectfifthabovethe firstandthird;
and bow hair divided into two cords) has proved popular and
flexible.
Indeed,the fiddlebecamea convenientmusicalworkhorseformany
purposes.It waswidelyadoptedby the blindandthe poor,becoming
almostthebadgeof thebeggar,asnecessaryto himashisstickandbowl.
Wei's comment:'When destituteqingqu[Yangzhouballadsinging]
artistssoldtheirperformances alone,theygenerallyusedonlyanerhu',
101
musthave stood for manyothermusicalformsas well (Wei & Wei,
1985, p.27).
One of the most explicit descriptions of fiddle style dating from this
period is that of Huittner,a German who accompanied Macartney's
Embassy to China in 1797. He described a form of 'rjenn' [erxian] as
follows(Harrison,1973,pp.185-6):
The rj'ennlooks like a rather large wooden mallet, whose head has been
hollowed out for resonance. The two stringsof this instrumentdo not have a
fingerboard,but are nevertheless stopped with the fingers like the stringsof a
violin. The timbre of the rj'ennis somewhat hoarse, and is no less so in
performance,since insteadof going from one chord to anotherby simple scale-
steps one slides through all the interveninghalf- andquarter-tones,which soon
becomes tiring to Europeanears, although if used sparingly,as in our music, it
may just as well produce a good effect. The same may be said of their
continuous tremolo on this instrument.

The Qing Dynastysaw thenboth a proliferation of the instrument

into new musicalareasand into the handsof manymore musicians,
especiallyamongstthelowerechelonsof society,anditspromotionto a
leadingrolein variousstylesof Chineseopera.Thispromotionresulted
in the rise, outsidethe courtandurbanentertainment ensembles,of
specialist,professional
huqinplayerswhose level of artistrymustoften
have been extremelyhigh. An exampleis Mei Yutian(1869-1914),
uncleof thefamousoperasingerMeiLanfang(1894-1961).Originallya
kunquflute player,Mei Yutiantransferred to thejinghuwhen kunqu
declined(Xu, 1982,pp.494-5; Mackerras, 1975,p. 58).Theincreasein
importanceof the huqin would also have contributedto the
developmentof its playingtechnique,and its close associationwith
dramaticvocalmusicto the emulationon the fiddleof the vocalstyles
andnuancesof the foremostsingers.
If the historyof the Chinesefiddlein the nineteenthcenturywas
characterised by the growthof a specialrelationshipwith the human
voice,thenthatin thetwentiethhasbeendominatedby themultifaceted
andprofoundinfluencesof WesternmusicandChinesepolitics.These
influenceshave been especiallymarkedin performancetechnique,
aesthetics,theorganisationandcompositionof music,andin instrument
construction.Nonetheless,each of these areasretains,to a varying
extent,traditionalelements.
Performance techniqueof the modernerhuowesmuchto thatof the
violin.Forexample,playersbeganto usethe tipsinsteadof themiddles
of their fingersto press the strings,they began to aim for equal-
temperedintonation,they developeda vibratoakinto thatcurrently
102
 used on the violin in Western classicalmusic and sought an expanded
range, thus shifting hand position and hence register more frequently.
Musicalthinkingchangedrapidlyso that a solo repertoireperformed
in Western-style concerts was created, for the most part by
conservatory-trained erhu players (see Stock, 1992). Aspects of
virtuosity were encouraged and audience expectation gradually
transformed.Specialism increased and the gap between amateur and
professional has further widened, with the attitudes of each to his
instrumentdiverging.
Many of these changes must be connected to the collapse of the
imperialsystem(1911) andeventualimpositionof communismin China
(1949). Connected to these has been a desire to modernize. Thus,
instrumentdesign and constructionhasbeen thoroughlyresearchedand
manufacturecentrallyregulated.Music conservatorieswere founded to
nurturea new breed of musicians,who have made far greater use of
notationthantheir historicalcounterparts,andthe erhuis now studiedin
a largely Westerneducationalmanner.Standardizationof performance
style nationwidewould appearto have been the most immediateresult
of this policy.
On the technical side, a few developments should not remain
uncited. The Cantonesemusic expert LtiWencheng(1898-1981) would
appearto have been the first to use a steel stringon the erhuin place of
one of the standardsilk ones. He also developed a new form ofhuqin,the
gaohu('high fiddle'). Wu Zhimin describedthe erhu'schange from a pair
of silk to steel strings as taking place in two stages.20In the former,
completed by approximately1950, the lower inner stringremainedsilk
while the higher outer string was a composite derived from a violin E
stringstretchedfrom the stubto the loop and extended to the tuningpeg
by silk. (A violin stringwas too shortto reachthe whole distancealone.)
By 1958 the latterstagewas fulfilled with all professionalplayersusing a
pair of purpose-madesteel erhustrings as standard.
Due to this change, the timbre of the erhuwas radicallyaltered and
new technical possibilities were provided, especially in the upper
register.Coupled with this was a processof refinementwhich increased
the volume of the erhuand improved reliability throughout its entire
range. Modern players, as a result, have a 'smoother', more subtle
instrumentto employ in a variety of new musics exploiting the erhu's
capabilities.On the other hand, as mentioned above, regional stylistic
differences have been diminished by use of this modernized erhu.
The typical dragon-headof traditionalChinese fiddles is less seen at
present. This is a result of the increasing production of fiddles in
factories over the last forty years. Carving an intricate head on each

103
 instrumentwould be a time-consuming and thus expensive business;
mass-producedinstrumentsas well as many specialistones have instead
the elegant curve shown in Fig.1.
Players and craftsmenhave also experimented with the creation of
deeper-pitchedfiddles, with the aim of creatingChinese versionsof the
viola, cello and double bass. Examples of these are the zhonghu('mid-
[pitched] fiddle') andgehu ('reformed fiddle'), developed in the 1940s
and 1950s respectively (Miao et al., 1985, pp. 508, 118). The zhonghuis
much like a largeerhutuned a fifth lower, while the four-stringedgehuis
modelled upon and tunedjust as the cello. The bow hairofthegehu bow
is not fed between the instrument'sfour strings.These instrumentshave
been employed in some traditional musical genres but their most
important role is in the fairly recently devised orchestraof Chinese
national instruments with its four polyphonic sections of wind,
percussion, bowed string and plucked string instruments (see Han,
1979).
Typicalprofessionalsin one of these orchestrasare now conservatory
graduates(over the last thirty years, increasinglywomen) able to read
both Western and Chinese forms of notation, and depending on a
composer to furnish music for their use. Such musicianslive in state-
provided homes and have their lives planned for them to an extent
presumably undreamt of by the earlier professional Qing Dynasty
jinghuplayer.

(v) Identityandfuture
The accountabove has attemptedto assessthe historyof the erhuwithin
China. The remainderof this article will examine the concept of the
instrumentitself and its position within Chinese and foreign literature,
and discuss perceptions of its future.
The instrument now known as the erhu carried with it several
associations. The name itself reminds the Chinese of its barbarian
antecedentsandpartlyexplainsthe contemptof Chinese scholarsin ages
pastfor it and, by association,its performers.However, this does not tell
the whole story, for recordsof all periods can be found which describe
positively the capabilitiesof this instrumentalform. One of the earliest
of these is that of Liu Chang (also mentioned above). Liu describesthe
sound of the xiqin with typical aplomb (Xue, 1990, p. 80):
S
. the stringsof doubledsilk are extremelyclear and solemn. In the
.
high halls may be heard wind, snow and cold, the seated guests droop
sorrowfullyin return.It is a true matchfor the dongxiao[verticalbamboo
flute] at singing,...
104
 The Yuan Dynasty writer Zhang Yanghao(1269-1329) in his Ode to
the Huqin claimed, even more metaphorically(Fang, 1938, p. 1):
The finestof the 'eightsounds'is thatof strings.Northof the GreatWallis a
new soundin whicheachtone is clearand rounded.[The soundis like] an
oriolecallingfroma blossomingtree, a phoenixcryingat sunrise,a flowing
brookin a desertedvalley ...
Marco Polo was another enthusiast for whatever variety of two-
stringed instrument it was that he had heard performed by Mongol
warriors,and subsequentofficial disapprovalof the instrumentseems to
stem from its widespread use by the peasantry, the blind and the
destitute rather than its foreign provenance.
Westernwriters about Chinese music in the first half of this century
generally echoed the sentiments of the Chinese literati. Laloy (1909,
p.78) noted that: 'This instrument is reserved for street singers and
mendicantswho scrapeit mercilessly'.His contemporarySouli6 (1911,
p. 28) describesvarietiesof huqinand mentionsthatin manyprovincesit
was used by the blind to signal their approach.'Yet,' he records, 'in the
hands of an accustomed executant, its tone is sweet, the rhythm and
movement of the melody are respectableand its very pure accents are
not without some charm' (ibid., p.30).
Marks (1932, p. 606) described nearly all of Beijing's professional
musiciansin the early 1930s as blind, and during my own periods of
research in China, the majority of the musical beggars whom I
encounteredplayed some kind of erhuand gave the appearanceof being
blind. A blind erhu player known as Abing (1893-1950), whose
compositionsare particularlywell known in China, was fairly recently
'canonised'by the Chinese state in a film, and his life, as presented in
that medium, now typifies the existence of the pre-Communist folk
musician to many in China.2
A similarportraitis painted in StreetCornerMusicianfrom Li Mai's
collection of historical stories involving music (1983, p.201). More
unusual is the tale of the Tang Dynasty scholar Chen Zi'ang who
solicited employment by contrastinghis worth to that of a 'crudely
made huqin'which he smashesbefore a crowd of onlookers hoping to
hear new music (ibid., pp. 175-8).
As Terence Liu has pointed out (1988, p. 37), intellectualstended to
prove more resistantto the instrumentthan the lower classeswho made
far greateruse of it. Liu deals with the development of the concept of
the erhuin the twentieth century at some length and duplication is
unnecessaryhere, suffice it to say that within contemporaryChina the
erhu is no longer considered necessarily a coarse, vulgar or simple

105
instrument, although this attitude was frequently expressed by Chinese
living in Malaysia with whom I spoke between 1985 and 1987. The
elevation of its status in the Chinese mainland was a result of the efforts
of several generations of teachers and performers, some of whom are
now household names in China, and was carried out in conjunction with
profound social and educational change, such as the establishment of
Chinese music conservatories.
Of the future, many of my informants foresaw no great change.
Craftsmen talked of refinement not redesign. Players commented on
the lack of performing, publishing and teaching opportunities, an
income now regarded by them as low, and a decline in standards of
student dedication. They talked of a need for a louder instrument with a
wider range 'like the violin' but saw no immediate way of achieving
this. Students remarked on the lack of public interest in Chinese
traditional music, many hoped the erhu might be their means to a more
lucrative career outside China or looked to singing in bars for a higher
income than that resulting from employment in a state-run ensemble.
The erhu now appears to be approaching something of a turning
point. Having achieved the status of an art instrument, it now may be
losing the bastion of popular support that sustained it for many hundreds
of years, and is being implicitly redefined by many of China's youth as
an instrument more suitable for the portrayal of old Chinese culture and
the addition of pastoral character to film scores than for the musical
expression of their personalities. The debate amongst them is no longer
whether the erhu is respectable or not but whether it is relevant or not.
Much as in the past, however, those who employ the erhu the most,
whoever they may be, can be expected to continue their own trends
whatever the most commonly expressed externalisations by non-players
might be.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The British Council - China State Education Commission's award of

scholarshipsfor researchduring 1989-90 and 1992 is gratefullyacknowledged.
These scholarshipswere held at the ShanghaiConservatory of Music, and I
would like to express my gratitude to my teachers there, particularly to
Professor Wu Zhimin. The Universities' China Commission provided funds
for tripsto instrumentfactoriesin both Shanghaiand Suzhou;their assistanceis
also acknowledged with thanks. Professors Chen Yingshi, Lin Guanfu, Liu
Dongsheng, Rulan Chao Pian and Rembrandt Wolpert, and Drs Laurence
Picken, Robert Provine and Martin Stokes all kindly answered a number of
questions regarding this research; and the many helpful suggestions put
forward by the referee of this article (Dr David Hughes) were
extremely
valuable.

106
 OF CHINESETERMS
GLOSSARY
Importantmusicaltermsandinstrumental namesreferredto in the text and
notesarelistedalphabetically
below,togetherwithChinesecharacters written
in the 'simple'form now standardin mainlandChina.

bavin the 'Eight Sounds', Chinese

classificationof musical
instruments
banha ~4i9 two-stringedfiddle with a board-
faced soundbox

bangziqiang T R, collective termfor relatedstyles of

Chinese opera
c
bolka 'to strum'
'1
dadavue
v ) 'Mongolian-style' string ensemble
genre of the Yuan Dynasty

dongxiao zi alternative
nameforthexiao,a
vertical bamboo notchedflute,
sometimes called xiaoguan

erhLu two-stringedspike fiddle with

- snakeskin-faced soundbox

erhuang style of music used and

other opera forms injingful

erxian early form of two-stringedfiddle,

still found in FujianProvince

gaohu r 4 high-pitchedfiddle developed by

LuiWencheng
i
gehu 4 recent form of four-stringed,
cello-like Chinese fiddle

guzheng t '
see zheng

guoha , a
two-stringedfiddle of the Miao
Minority
huju Shanghaiopera
. 'Ii
hulei ancienttwo-stringedlute

huqin 4 ancient 'barbarianstringed

instrument',more recently a
generaltermforChinesefiddles
huqinqiang 49 AT alternativeearly name for erhuang
(see above)

107
huobusi (or huobisi) • ~. qobuz, CentralAsian four-
stringedlute

ji 'to strike'

n
jiqin ancient struck stringedinstrument

jiqin variantwriting of xiqin, Korean

haegt~m
jinghu small, two-stringedfiddle

jingju (orjingxi) 1• N ( y -4) Beijing opera

kunqu a literaryopera style
lie 'to twist' [a bow against strings]

A i horse-bone fiddle of the Zhuang

n•lguLhu ' Minority
- 4 W Chinese name for Mongolian two-
matouqin
stringed, horse-headfiddle, morin
khuur

mawei huqin ~W horse-tailfiddle reportedupon

by Shen Kuo

aU 4
niutuiqin ox-leg fiddle of the Dong and
Miao Minorities

paoqin ancient gourd stringinstrument

from China's southwest

pihuangqiang t " collective termfor relatedstyles of

, Chinese opera

pipa l e four-stringed,pear-shapedlute

qin seven-stringedzither;generalterm
for 'string instrument'

qingqu Yangzhou ballad singing

quyi general termfor balladsinging

rnan i four-stringed,round-bodiedlute
se ancient pluckedzitherwith up to
twenty-five strings

shouchang general termfor balladsinging

sihu E9A four-stringedspike fiddle

tan 5f 'to pluck'

108
taogu -0 ritualrattledrum

tiqin Ming Dynasty form of two-

stringed fiddle (now used for
instrumentsof the violin family)

xipi style of music used injingju and

other opera forms

xiqin ancient two-stringedfriction

fiddle of the Xi tribe,Korean
haegiim

xiyue (• [music for] a small-scale Song

Dynasty urbanentertainment
instrumentalensemble

xiantao questionableearly name for the

pipa or ruan

xiaoguan vertical flute, see dongxiao

ya 4L 'to press' [bamboo against

strings]

yazheng 4L ' ancient frictionzither, Korean

ajaeng
yin 51 'to draw' [bamboo across strings]

yueju A Shaoxing opera

zheng V zither with up to twenty-five

strings, also called guzheng

zheng alternatename of yazheng

zhonghu * 49 recentlyinventedalto erhu

Thu inj ancient struck-stringedinstrument

109
 NOTES
1 This information has been derived from interviews with craftsmen and
factoryadministratorsas well as professionalplayersfrom Shanghaiand Suzhou
carried out during 1989-90 and early 1992.
2 This is in contrastto the repertoriesof variousother spike fiddles in which
both strings may be sounded together, for example the gicak of Northern
Afghanistan (see Slobin, 1976, p.245). Previous Western literature has not
always noted this aspect of the erhu'sperformance;see for example Marcuse
(1964, p. 174).
3Some sources, for instance Miao et al. (1985, p. 287), state that this
instrumentis typical of the Dong minority ratherthanthe Miao. However, the
guoha,which is undisputedlya Miao instrument,is almost identical in structure
to the niutuiqin.
4 In these paragraphsthe
findings of Picken (1965) and Zhong Qingming
(1989) are summarisedand combined.
5 Chinese terms pertainingto the excitation of an instrument'sstringshave
been consistently translatedthroughout this article in the following manner:
bola,strummed;ji,struck;lie, twisted; tan,plucked;ya, pressed;andyin, drawn.
Alternative translationshave been noted below.
6 Picken (1965, p. 84) translatesya as 'to creak'.
7 Despite its identical romanization, a different characterfor the
syllable
'zheng'is used in each of these two instrumentalnames (see Glossary).Both this
zheng and the yazheng should also be distinguished from the twenty-five
stringed plucked zither named zheng or guzheng popular in contemporary
China, although they may have been related to its ancient Chinese
predecessors.Picken (1965, p. 88) discussesthis instrument,but romanizesits
name as 'ch'in',(qin in present day pinyin romanization).
8
The name of the instrumentmentioned in Meng's poem would today be
pronounced asfiqinbut, as Liu notes (1988, pp. 29-30), the character'ii'was in
fact pronounced 'xi' in ancient China and was sometimes used in place of the
character'xi', as used for the Xi tribe, 'to avoid the negative connotations of
[that character]'.
9 Contemporary Chinese sources, such as Li et al. (1989, p.60), often
describe the xiantaoas a forerunnerof a different kind of lute, the ruan,which
has a rounded soundbox and a straightneck, somewhat closer in form to the
xiqinillustratedby Chen Yangthan the pear-shapedpipa.There is also an actual
rattle-drumcalled the xiantao;this has a certain, inverted resemblanceto Chen
Yang'sxiqin.
10I am obliged to Wu Zhimin for this quotation. Xiang (1992, pp. 119, 123)
names the source of this quotation as ShiyuanWenXiqin Zuo, or 'Composed
upon Hearing the Xiqin from the Examination Hall'.
11I am obliged to Liu Dongsheng for the provision of approximatedates
both for Chen Yuanjing and the original publication of his compendium
(personal communication, 10.11.91).
12 Chinese scholars to whom I have suggested this possibility consider it
over-cautious. Chen Yingshi has also proposed that maweimay be a place

110
name (personalcommunication,4.4.92). However, the great majorityof places
with this name in Chinese historical records were located in the south of the
country, well away from the Hu tribes: Lin Guanfu (personalcommunication,
17.4.92).
13 This painting is held in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing. The
exact date of its composition and the identity of its author are unknown: Liu
Dongsheng (personal communication, 10.11.91).
14 Liu
Dongsheng (personalcommunication,10.11.91) dates the composition
of the Yulin murals to the twelfth century.
is See Lee (1982, p. 23 and inside front cover). However, cultural reasons
connected with the use and function of this instrument in Korean court
ensembles may underlie the desire not to modify the haeguim.Support of
Picken's theory may in this case be coincidental.
16Liu
Dongsheng (personal communication, 10.11.91).
17Liemay also be translatedas 'to turn'. Picken (1965, pp. 86-7) suggestsuse
of 'thrummed'.
18sThis painting is held in the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing. The
exact datesof its composition and of You Ziqiu's birth and death are unknown.
Also called You Qiu, this artist'searliestknown paintingdatesfrom 1572 (Shen,
1987, p. 75; Yu, 1991, p. 28). Dr RobertProvine has shown me Koreansources
dating from 1451, 1474 and 1493 which portray the restraining loop on
diagramsof the haegUm(personalcommunication,2.9.91). These considerably
predate You Ziqiu's painting.
19Tiqinis now better known as the Chinese name for instrumentsof the
violin family.
20
Personal communication, 16.3.90.
21
This film, The MoonReflectedon the SecondSprings,is discussed by C. P.
Mackerras (1981, pp. 140-3, 168). In March and April 1992 an eight-part
television dramatisationof Abing'slife was broadcastin China. Althoughcloser
in some respectsto documentedevents thanthe earlierfilm had been, this series
still presented Abing as an extremely romantic figure, composing his
masterworksduring moments of great passion.

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113
(a) (b)

PLATE VII

(a) and(b) WangLiming,an amateurErhuplayercurr