Getting To Know Chinese Musical Instruments

Click on the numbers below to enjoy Chinese Traditional tunes in MIDI format.	Here are three of the many different types of bowed instruments used in the Chinese orchestra.
	Bowed Strings Instruments
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9 10 11	Erhu (Chinese violin) is an ancient instrument which became popular during the Sung Dynasty. Today, the erhu is still one of the most widely used bowed instruments in China. It has two strings, with a bow clasped between them. The sound box is covered by snake skin which gives it a mellow and bright tone color. Besides, due to the lack of fingerboard, the player is left with tremendous flexibility to control the instrument in order to imitate the human voice. In the Chinese orchestra, it occupies a comparable importance to the violin in the Western orchestra. .			Banhu is a variety of the huqin. The name was derived from the wooden sounding board (Ban) it uses in the sound box.	Gaohu and Zhonghu are the common doubles for Erhu players. The Gaohu is higher-pitched, while the Zhonghu is the alto version. The Zhonghu has a beautiful tone, similar to the cello.
TOP	BLOWN	BOWED	PLUCKED			STROKED

Some of the images and MIDI music in this page are collected from the following sites:

The Music of China
If you enjoy beautiful traditional Chinese music and Chinese comedy, this is your site.