A dadihu (the largest instrument shown), with other Chinese string instruments

The dihu (低胡, pinyin: dīhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument's name derives from "dī," meaning "low," and "hú" (short for huqin). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 159 KB)A dadihu (large modernized bass version of the erhu). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 159 KB)A dadihu (large modernized bass version of the erhu). ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), also known as scheme of the Chinese phonetic alphabet... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... Huqin are a family of instruments used in Chinese music. ...

The instrument comes in three sizes:

• The xiaodihu (also called dahu or cizhonghu), pitched one octave below the erhu (tuned D-A, with its lowest D one whole step above the viola's lowest C). It is the tenor member of the erhu family (the erhu being the soprano member and the zhonghu being the alto member).
• The zhongdihu, pitched one octave below the zhonghu (tuned G-D, as the middle strings of the cello). It is the bass member of the erhu family.
• The dadihu, pitched one octave below the xiaodihu and two octaves below the erhu (tuned D-A, with its lowest D one whole step above the cello's lowest C). It is the contrabass member of the erhu family.

The dihu family was developed for orchestral use in the 1930s as lower members of the erhu family (the erhu being the soprano member and the zhonghu being the alto member), but by the late 20th century it had largely fallen into disuse. Part of the reason for this is that it is unwieldy to play. Also, the fact that (like other instruments in the huqin family) the bow passes between the instrument's two strings means that playing pizzicato is difficult; thus, the larger four-string gehu and diyingehu (or cello or double bass) are generally used in Chinese orchestras for the lower bowed string voices instead. The dahu (大胡, pinyin: dàhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. ... Cizhonghu is the tenor member of the Chinese huqin family of stringed instruments. ... Side view of an erhu. ... The viola (in French, alto; in German Bratsche) is a string instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass. ... Zhonghu The zhonghu (中胡, pinyin: zhōnghú) is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. ... Zhonghu The zhonghu (中胡, pinyin: zhōnghú) is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Zhonghu The zhonghu (中胡, pinyin: zhōnghú) is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. ... Pizzicato is a method of playing a bowed string instrument by plucking the strings with the fingers, rather than using the bow. ... The Gehu is a Chinese instrument developed by Yang Yusen in the 20th century. ... Diyingehu is a bowed Chinese huqin family string instrument. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...

External links

• Dihu page (Chinese)
• Xiaodihu photo (xiaodihu on left; erhu on right for comparison)
• Zhongdihu photo (zhongdihu on left; erhu on right for comparison)
• Dadihu photo (dadihu on left; erhu on right for comparison)

See also

• Dahu (instrument)
• Gehu
• Diyingehu
• Laruan
• Huqin
• Traditional Chinese musical instruments