Generic term for Chinese fiddle, literally ‘barbarian string instrument’. The majority of Chinese fiddles are two-string instruments with the bow hair inserted between the strings, but three- and four-string variants are also found. Varieties of huqin are employed in many genres of Chinese music, including opera, regional ensembles and the ‘national music’ orchestra.
The rise of bowed string instruments in China may have begun around the mid-8th century, the date of the first records of lute-form instruments scraped with a bamboo strip rather than bowed with horsehair. The most prominent variety of this early instrument was the xiqin, an instrument associated with the northern Xi people, many of whom migrated to central northern China at this time. One form of xiqin is illustrated in Chen Yang’s music enyclopedia Yueshu, completed in 1105. The lower end of a neck of bamboo is set into a squat tubular resonator, which is covered with a wooden soundboard. Attached to the frontal tuning pegs were two strings, which, according to Chen’s description, were sounded by a bamboo slip. Chen noted that the xiqin was already popular among the Han Chinese as well as the Xi, and it appears to have become a fashionable entertainment instrument, subsequently introduced to both Korea and Japan. The erxian of nanguan in southern Fujian is thought to be a descendant of the xiqin.
First references to an instrument bowed with horsehair are contemporaneous with Chen’s encyclopedia. The late-11th-century traveller and chronicler Shen Kuo wrote a poem describing the plaintive sounds of the mawei (horsetail) huqin played by prisoners-of-war captured on a Han Chinese military expedition to Central Asia. Horsehair bows appear to have gradually replaced the bamboo slip used on instruments like the xiqin. Many distinct forms of fiddle have since arisen, including the tiqin, used to accompany Kunqu vocal music since the 17th century.
The Chinese bowed fiddle most commonly encountered today is the erhu (see illustration). During the 20th century, it has been redesigned and standardized. For example, steel strings have replaced the traditional ones of silk, altering the tone quality of the instrument and allowing new performance techniques. The erhu has a long round neck of hardwood with two tuning-pegs dorsally mounted at the upper end, while the lower end is inserted into a hardwood resonator. The resonator may be either hexagonal, octagonal or tubular in shape, and one end is covered with the skin of a python (or other snake), glued around the outer edges. The two strings run from the pegs through an adjustable sliding upper nut (of silk or nylon cord) and over a lower bridge mounted on the surface of the snakeskin; they are attached to the stub of the neck where it emerges on the underside of the resonator. The strings are of differing diameters and most commonly tuned a 5th apart to d'–a'. The bow is of horsehair, supported by a bamboo stem. The bow hair of the erhu is inserted between the two strings and rosined on both sides, a characteristic shared with most other forms of huqin. The erhu, which is about 80 cm in length, is rested on the left thigh in performance. The player’s right hand pushes the bowhair inward to sound the lower string or outward to sound the higher – the two are not normally sounded together. The strings are lightly stopped with the left hand fingers, but are not pushed back to touch the neck.
One of the principal instigators of the development of the erhu was Liu Tianhua (1895–1932), who had also learnt the Western violin. In a series of exercises and solo pieces, Liu extended considerably the instrument’s conventional range of one-and-a-half octaves and introduced new fingering and bowing techniques. Just as significantly, Liu established the erhu as a solo recital instrument and distanced it from its traditional associations with village music groups and itinerant musical beggars. The erhu is presently used in the ‘national music’ orchestra and also in numerous local opera and ballad forms. The alto zhonghu (‘middle fiddle’), pitched a 5th below the erhu, is sometimes found as a solo or ensemble instrument.
Many dozen other forms of huqin occur in present-day China. Of smaller, higher-pitched fiddles, best known is the jinghu (‘capital fiddle’) used primarily in Beijing opera (see illustration). Its neck and resonator are constructed of bamboo, and it has retained silk strings. Its tone is strident, with an energetic bowing style. The jinghu-player doubles the vocal melody in Beijing opera and provides melodic interludes between vocal segments. He (but recently also she) also directs the melodic instrumental ensemble in Beijing opera performance.
The leading instrument of some traditional opera forms, notably the northern bangzi, is known generically as banhu (‘board fiddle’). In fact, there are many distinct types of banhu; their common characteristic is use of a wooden board in place of the snakeskin found on other Chinese fiddles.
In southern China several regional traditions, notably those of the Chaozhou and Hakka people, have preserved early forms, called erxian (‘two-string [fiddle]’). The specific construction of the erxian varies by region, but all have tubular resonators and silk strings. The Cantonese gaohu (‘high fiddle’), introduced from Shanghai in the 1920s to the Cantonese ensemble, where it soon became a leading instrument, has the same basic construction as the erhu, but is somewhat smaller and usually has a tubular resonator. A dragon-head may decorate the scroll. Its steel strings are typically tuned to g'–d'' or a'–e''. It is held vertically with the resonator supported between the knees.
An older relative of the erhu is the sihu (‘four-stringed fiddle’) whose four strings are tuned in pairs a 5th apart (for instance, d'–a'–d'–a'). The bow hair of the sihu is divided into two strands, one of which sounds one of each pair of strings. This instrument is found particularly in northern China. Ethnic minority peoples also have a rich variety of bowed fiddles. Bowed zithers have been found in both northern and southern China.
Larger and lower-pitched fiddles (called by names such as chehu or dapa) have been used in regional ensembles in southern China since the early 20th century, but since the 1930s, alto, tenor and bass versions of the erhu have been developed for the ‘national music’ orchestra. In the 1950s, instruments such as the gehu (‘reformed fiddle’) attempted to solve the weakness of tone of the tenor and bass forms of erhu. This four-stringed instrument (tuned as a cello) grafts a cello fingerboard onto a large tubular resonator; the bow hair is not fed between the strings.
See also China, §III, IV; Taiwan, §3.
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ALAN R. THRASHER/JONATHAN P.J. STOCK