Zhonghu

Overview

The zhonghu is a mid-pitched bowed string instrument of the Chinese huqin (spike fiddle) family. It looks like a slightly larger erhu and is played in the same vertical-on-the-thigh position with a horsehair bow whose hair runs between two strings. DBpedia files it among bowed string instruments and notes its close relationship to the banhu, the erhu, the gaohu and the wider huqin family.

The zhonghu sits a fifth below the erhu and provides the alto-tenor voice in the modern Chinese orchestra, where its role is roughly that of the viola in a Western symphony orchestra.

Origin & History

The zhonghu is a deliberate 20th-century invention. The modern minzu yueqi Chinese orchestra — the large standardised ensemble that now serves as the national equivalent of the symphony orchestra — was developed in the 1920s and especially the 1940s and 1950s by composers and instrument designers including Liu Tianhua, Wang Guangqi, Yang Yinliu and the engineers of the Shanghai Music Conservatory. The new ensemble needed a balanced bowed-string section spanning soprano to bass, and the existing erhu (alto-soprano) and gaohu (soprano) instruments did not cover the tenor and bass registers.

The zhonghu was developed in the 1940s by enlarging the erhu and tuning its two strings a fifth lower (to A3–E4 instead of D4–A4). The instrument was given a larger resonator covered with thicker python skin to support the lower fundamental, and a slightly longer neck and bow to allow comfortable playing in the lower register. It entered the modern Chinese orchestra immediately as the standard tenor huqin and has remained in that role since.

The 20th-century reforms of the wider huqin family during the same period produced the cello-equivalent gehu and the bass-equivalent diyingehu (later replaced or supplemented by the Western double bass). The zhonghu, gehu and diyingehu together formed the lower bowed strings of the modern Chinese orchestra, and the zhonghu has remained the most widely used and most successful of the three at filling the alto-tenor gap.

Construction & Materials

A zhonghu has a hexagonal or octagonal resonator about 12 to 14 centimetres across, made of hardwood (rosewood or sandalwood are typical) with one face covered by python skin and the other open. A long round neck (around 80 to 85 centimetres total instrument length) of harder wood passes through the resonator and projects below as a small spike or tail block. Two friction-fit wooden tuning pegs sit at the top of the neck.

Two strings of metal-wound steel are tuned A3–E4. The bow is around 78 centimetres long, with horsehair tightened by the player’s right-hand grip and held permanently between the two strings. A small skin pad on the player’s left thigh sits between the player and the bottom of the resonator to absorb sympathetic vibrations.

How It’s Played

The player sits with the zhonghu’s resonator on the left thigh and the neck projecting upward and forward at a slight angle. The left hand stops the unfretted strings at the same hand positions as on the erhu (the technique transfers directly), and the right hand draws the bow across one string at a time by adjusting pressure direction. Because the bow hair sits permanently between the strings, the player chooses which string sounds by the angle of pressure rather than by crossing the bow.

Idiomatic technique is similar to that of the erhu but adapted for the lower register. Vibrato is wider and slower; left-hand portamento (sliding) is used more sparingly than on the soprano-register instruments; and the right-hand bow stroke is longer to draw a full tone from the larger resonator. The zhonghu is rarely used as a solo concert instrument and is almost exclusively encountered in ensemble settings.

Cultural Significance

The zhonghu’s significance is institutional. It is part of the standardised modern Chinese orchestra developed in the 1950s by the Central National Orchestra in Beijing and now replicated by every regional and conservatory Chinese orchestra in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Chinese diaspora in North America and Europe, and the international concert circuit. Without the zhonghu’s alto-tenor voice the bowed-string section of the modern Chinese orchestra would not balance in the way the modern orchestral repertoire requires.

The instrument is also a textbook case of how a traditional family of instruments can be deliberately extended to fit the demands of a new performance context. The zhonghu was designed for an orchestral need that did not exist in the older Chinese folk and theatre traditions, and its success has shaped the way the wider huqin family is now taught and played.

Notable Examples & Recordings

• The bowed-string sections of the China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra include zhonghu and these orchestras have extensive discographies.
• Zhao Hanyang, Chinese Orchestra Bowed Strings — pedagogical recording covering the section from gaohu to gehu.
• Liu Wenjin‘s composition Three Variations on the Plum Blossom (san-bian Mei-hua) for full Chinese orchestra is a standard zhonghu-section showcase.
• Tan Dun‘s and Zhao Jiping‘s contemporary Chinese orchestral works regularly feature the zhonghu in important ensemble passages.

Related Instruments

• Erhu – the alto-soprano huqin and the most widely known member of the family.
• Gaohu – the soprano Cantonese huqin.
• Banhu – the wooden-faced huqin used in northern Chinese opera.
• Jinghu – the small high-pitched huqin of Beijing opera.
• Gehu – the cello-equivalent huqin developed in the same 1940s–1950s reforms as the zhonghu.

Where to Hear It

The zhonghu can be heard in any modern Chinese orchestra performance worldwide. Major venues include the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Shanghai Concert Hall, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Singapore Conference Hall (Singapore Chinese Orchestra) and the Esplanade in Singapore. International appearances by touring Chinese orchestras at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican and the Sydney Opera House are regular. Recordings appear on the China Record Corporation, Hugo Productions, ROI Productions, Wind Records and Naxos World labels.

• Wikipedia: Zhonghu
• Wikidata: Zhonghu (Q922001)
• DBpedia: Zhonghu
• Wikimedia Commons: Zhonghu

Learning Resources

The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Taipei National University of the Arts all teach zhonghu within their Chinese-orchestra programmes. Method materials in Chinese are extensive; English-language method texts are rare. Standard pedagogical practice is for students to first reach an intermediate level on the erhu and then transfer to the zhonghu as a section instrument. A serviceable student zhonghu starts at around 100 USD; concert-grade instruments by named Suzhou or Shanghai makers run from 800 to 3,500 USD.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the zhonghu?
A tenor-register Chinese bowed string instrument, the alto-tenor voice of the modern Chinese orchestra. It is essentially a slightly larger erhu tuned a fifth lower.

When was the zhonghu invented?
In the 1940s, as a deliberate engineering project to fill the missing alto-tenor voice in the newly developed modern Chinese orchestra.

Is the zhonghu used as a solo instrument?
Rarely. The instrument is almost exclusively used in ensemble settings, with the modern Chinese orchestra being its principal home. A small chamber and concerto repertoire exists but is not a major part of the active solo concert circuit.

How is the zhonghu different from the erhu?
The zhonghu is larger, has a deeper-pitched range (tuned A3–E4 instead of D4–A4), and produces a fuller, darker tone. Playing technique is essentially the same as the erhu’s, transposed downward.

Is the zhonghu the Chinese viola?
The role is comparable. In a modern Chinese orchestra the zhonghu sits between the high-pitched gaohu and erhu and the lower-pitched gehu, occupying the same alto-tenor section role that the viola plays in a Western symphony orchestra.