HU-CH'IN

popular vertically held two-stringed fiddle of China, having a muted tone marked by slides and vibratos. It is a spike fiddle, as its narrow cylindrical or hexagonal body is skewered by the tubular neck. The two strings are aligned one on top of the other above the snakeskin belly and are tuned a fifth apart (as cg). The bow is not removable; its horsehair passes between the strings and its arched wooden handle outside them. It was apparently of Mongol origin and was adopted in China about the 10th century. It is especially prominent today in theatrical music. The hu-ch'in has many variants, generically also called hu-ch'in. Notable are the larger, lower-pitched erh-hu and the four-stringed hu-hu. Similar bowed fiddles are also found in Southeast Asia, Korea, and, less prominently, Japan.