Erhu
Chinese two-stringed musical instrument
The erhu (Chinese: 二胡; pinyin: èrhú; [aɻ˥˩xu˧˥]) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin or a Chinese two-stringed fiddle. It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As a very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as pop, rock and jazz.
History
The erhu can be traced back to proto-Mongolic instruments which first appeared in China during the Tang dynasty. It is believed to have evolved from the xiqin (奚琴). The xiqin is believed to have originated from the Xi people located in current northeast China.
The first Chinese character of the name of the instrument (二, èr, 'two') is believed to come from the fact that it has two strings. An alternate explanation states that it comes from the fact that it is the second-highest huqin in pitch to the gaohu in the modern Chinese orchestra. The second character (胡, hú) indicates that it is a member of the huqin family, with hu commonly translated to mean 'barbarians'.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Erhu” as chinese two-stringed musical instrument. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as chinese two-stringed musical instrument. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q726306. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Erhu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.