huqin

huqin, any of a group of Chinese fiddles. Huqin are generally spike fiddles, as the narrow cylindrical or hexagonal body is skewered by the tubular neck. Most have two strings, although some three- or four-string variants exist. The instruments are held vertically on the player’s lap, and their music is marked by slides and vibratos as the left hand moves quite freely along the strings. Typically the horsehair of the bow passes between the strings and the arched wooden stick remains on the outside; the bow is thus not separable from the instrument.

The name huqin appears in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279); however, bowed instruments apparently entered China from Mongolia centuries earlier. Notable among the variants are the erhu, the small jinghu, and the four-stringed sihu. Similar bowed fiddles are also found in Southeast Asia, Korea (see haegŭm), and, less prominently, Japan.