Erxian

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Chinese bowed string instrument

title: "Erxian" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["chinese-musical-instruments", "huqin-family-instruments", "necked-bowl-lutes", "cantonese-music"] description: "Chinese bowed string instrument" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erxian" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chinese bowed string instrument ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Instrument"]

Field	Value
name	Erxian
image	Erxian,19th century, made by the Golden Tone Workshop, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.png
image_capt	Erxian,19th century, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
::

Bowed string instrument
Huqin (China) |range=

The erxian () is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the family of instruments. It has two strings and is used primarily in Cantonese music, most often in "hard string" chamber ensembles. In the 1920s, following the development of the , the experienced a decline and since the late 20th century has been little used outside the tradition of Cantonese opera.

Similar instruments also referred to as (constructed and played differently from the Cantonese discussed above) are used in Chaozhou music (where it is called , 头弦, Teochow: tao5 hin5, literally "leading string ") and in the nanguan music of the Southern Fujian people.

The (called in Cantonese) is often referred to as the amongst older Cantonese opera musicians. The neck of most is made of hardwood (often or . The sound chamber is made of a large section of bamboo with a dome-shaped ring of hardwood glued on the front end, making the actual playable face of the chamber about half the size of the entire face. The back of the sound chamber is not covered with any lattice work like those of or . can be found with very ornate dragon heads, heads, or a very plain box-cut stock head. Earlier very closely resembled the of Beijing opera in size, construction, and playing technique.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Erxian_19th_century_Chinese,_possibly_Chaozhu_sub-culture,_from_the_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art.jpg" caption="Erxian 19th century Chinese, possibly Chaozhu sub-culture, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art"] ::

Currently, the is used for accompanying the singing of characters in Cantonese opera as well as all roles in Cantonese opera (古腔粵劇). Other instruments used in conjunction with the are the / (竹提琴), (), (), and /. Together, this grouping of instruments is called the "hard bow ensemble" (硬弓). The name "hard bow" comes from the fact that both the and are/should be played with a bow made of a thick, hard piece of bamboo rather than a thinner and softer reed like modern bows.

The of earlier times came in two forms: one for playing / , and a slightly larger one for playing / .

A is tuned to 士-工/la-mi/A-e
An is tuned to 合-尺/so-re/G-d Today, the is more commonly used to play both and melodies. The heavy silk strings of the earlier have largely been replaced with wound steel strings and some modern players have begun to use bows instead of the heavier (and more uncomfortable) "hard bows."

While the has experienced a decline in usage since the 1920s, it remains a staple instrument in any Cantonese opera orchestra and recently composed Cantonese operas like "新霸王別姬" and "林沖之魂會山神廟" are calling for its regular usage.

References

''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rXrGBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 Creative Arts in Education and Culture: Perspectives from Greater China]''. Netherlands, Springer Netherlands, 2013. 244.
link

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