The origin of Hu Qin

Huqin originated from the Western Qin Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty. Mawei Huqin appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty; Huqin became a special name for stringed instruments from the Yuan Dynasty.

Huqin originated from the Western Qin Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty and appeared as a ponytail bow in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was the main stringed instrument at that time. According to Shen Kuo's "Meng Qian Bi Tan", the ponytail huqin has a long handle, tasteless, pear-shaped two strings, and a faucet on its head. It is melancholy to play with a ponytail bow. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1082), Song Jun, who was stationed in the northern frontier, had widely used the ponytail as the bow string.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Huqin became popular. China made a large number of silk strings, which also started when it moved its capital to Lin 'an (now Hangzhou) in the Southern Song Dynasty, so the silk strings are also called "Hangzhou strings".

In the Yuan Dynasty, the cultures of ethnic minorities and the Central Plains were widely exchanged and integrated. At this time, the Huqin was formed on the basis of the original and absorbed the characteristics of Mongolian stringed instruments. Its shape is close to today's popular lead erhu. In the Yuan Dynasty murals in Yulin Grottoes, Gansu Province, there is a musical instrument with a coiled neck and two strings pulled with a bow. In the Yuan Dynasty, Hu Qin was not only used for solo or ensemble in banquets, but also widely used in military performances. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the name of Huqin has gradually become a general term for stringed instruments.

In the Ming Dynasty, with the prosperity of traditional Chinese opera, folk art and national instrumental music ensemble, Huqin was further developed. In the Autumn Banquet in Tang Lin, a boy plays the Hu Qin, the bow, the faucet and the second string with a ponytail bow, and there are already thousands of pounds with a fixed string length on the piano rod.

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Hu Qin spread to Batang (now western Sichuan) in Tibetan areas, which was well received by folk artists and made use of local materials. At that time, Heizai was a Tibetan folk song and dance, named after the accompaniment of Hu Qin.

In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the original Huqin or Erhu, there appeared ukulele, Jinghu with Peking Opera and Banhu with Bangzi Opera. In order to cooperate with different local operas and perform folk instrumental music, different shapes of Huqin stringed instruments have come out one after another, such as Yuehu in Guangdong, Dajian in Hunan, Tribal Tiger in Henan, Ma Touqin in Mongolia and Magu Lake in Zhuang nationality.

Huqin musical instrument is rich in expressive force, and different bows and fingering can express the music content deeply and meticulously. Because it is widely spread among the people, some special performance skills created by folk artists, such as imitating the tones of various people, singing, telling the truth and laughing, and the chirping of birds and animals in nature, make it more unique in expression and charm.