A handmade erhu made of old materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties by Zhao Jun, the 13th generation inheritor of Zhao’s erhu making techniques at Zhao’s Musical Instrument Workshop in Danyang, Jiangsu province, was bought by an American friend of Zhao at 25,000 yuan on Oct 14.
The erhu took Zhao Jun nearly two months to complete.
The 2017 China (Shanghai) International Musical Instrument Expo made debut at Shanghai New International Expo Center from Oct 11 to 14. Zhao’s erhu products from Danyang were displayed at the expo on invitation. The erhu instruments were favored by Cao Tianli, a famous erhu player and fan in China, and received praises from international friends from Malaysia, New Zealand and the United States.
According to a briefing, the Chinese zither making techniques of Zhao’s Musical Instrument Workshop have long been lost, but the workshop managed to keep its erhu making techniques till today. Zhao’s erhu making technique was listed as an intangible cultural heritage of Jiangsu province by Jiangsu provincial government in Oct 2015.
