The ruan (阮) or moon guitar is a four-stringed Chinese
instrument similar to the pipa. It is also sometimes called the
qin pipa (秦琵琶) and ruanxian (阮咸). The most common ruan is the
zhongruan (中阮) or tenor ruan. The bass ruan (大阮) is also fairly
common; less frequently heard are the soprano (高音阮), alto (小阮)
and contrabass: Diyinruan (低音阮) versions. Read more Perhaps no
musical instrument is more evocative of China than the erhu
(二胡), but its origins are in central Asia: The erhu is one of
several instruments including gaohu, zhuihu and jinghu that were
historically known as “huqin” (barbarian’s fiddle) or “xiqin”.
The erhu became a common accompaniment to opera in the Ming and
Qing dynasties. In the early 20th Century, compositions for erhu
by Hua Yanjun (1893-1950) and Liu Tianhua (1895-1932) gave the
instrument a respectable solo repertoire. In this video Liu Hong
introduces the erhu and plays the classic folk tune “Running
River” (江河水). I lived in the far west of China in Xinjiang from
2006 to 2010, and I w