The Annual Erhu Strings Award

There are a lots of different types of erhu strings. They come in different gauges, are made of different materials and each maker has their own little trade secret. When it comes to stringing your erhu, some people, even myself are at a loss of what to get.

So here are some information culled from experiences and feedback from customers (and myself) outside of what the packaging says. I hope they can aid you in making a decision on what type of string to use.

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"Safe Choice Award"
These strings are the more popular choices. They sound good, have pretty short run in period and are easy on the hands. If you have no clue what strings to use, just get Mudan strings. If you want something better, get the Fang Fang strings.
Mudan Erhu Strings
Fang Fang Professional Erhu Strings

"Loud-Hailer Award"
These strings are of thicker gauge and hence produces a tone with more body and volume.
Beijing Hua Mei Niao Brand Erhu Strings
Dunhuang Erhu Strings

"Challenge Yourself Award"
Because these strings are stiffer than the rest, you need more effort to press the strings and bow to get a good tone.
Beijing Hua Mei Niao Brand Erhu Strings
Dunhuang Erhu Strings

"Best Value Award"
Cheap and good
Mudan Erhu Strings

"Best of Both Worlds Award"
These strings give better volume and are still easy on the hands
Ming Ren Erhu Strings

"Best Singer Award"
These are arguably the best sounding strings.
Fang Fang Soloist Erhu Strings
Thomastik-Infeld Soloist Erhu Strings
Pirastro Red Dragon Erhu strings

"Plug and Play Award"
These strings sound good almost immediately. You don't need a week to run them in.
Fang Fang Soloist Erhu Strings
Thomastik-Infeld Soloist Erhu Strings
Pirastro Red Dragon Erhu strings

"Die Young Award"
The performance of these strings deteriorates pretty fast. Maybe they sound too good to begin with hence the difference is stark. So save them for special occasions
Fang Fang Soloist Erhu Strings (To be confirmed)
Thomastik-Infeld Soloist Erhu Strings
Pirastro Red Dragon Erhu strings

"Acquired Taste Award"
Either you like it or you don't. Made from silver and sometimes gold, these strings can have surprising results on your erhu - either way.
ABing Silver Erhu Strings
ABing Silver and Gold Erhu Strings

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If you think I missed out any strings worthy of an award, please feel free to comment.

Another Type of Erhu Belt Clip

A while ago, a customer of mine who has bought a belt clip from me before asked: "Sung Wah, do you have a belt clip that stays on the erhu permanently?". I replied: "Erm.....ya, the belt clip that I sold you....just don't remove it and it will stay on permanently right?"

End of conversation.

A few days later by some divine intervention, I noticed a box of erhu belt clips in my store. They were never given a chance to see the light of day because they were wrongly ordered by my supplier. I took a look at them when they first came and sent them straight to the darkest corner of my store. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that these might be the type of belt clips my customer was looking for.

It comes in 2 parts.


The piece on the left clips onto your belt / trousers like this:

and the piece on the right is glued onto the base of your erhu like this:


As you can see the 2 parts are velcro loop and hook sides which can be attached together like below.

And with that you can dance to your heart's content while playing the erhu.


Accordingly to the male model in the photo, the clip is more comfortable than the usual belt clip I am selling. And you can easily detach and attach the erhu to and from the velcro, making setup and storage a breeze. The construction feels more flimsy though.

And with the Velcro piece glued to the base of erhu, part of the belt clip stays on the erhu permanently...

Available in the shop @ Rochor Centre. Oversea customers please email me if you are interested. It costs slightly less than the belt clip we have in our online store.

A Very Good Wang Gen Xing Erhu

I was at Shanghai last week and while I was there, I went over to Wang Gen Xing's place to pick out 2 erhus.

I had my picture taken with him. He insisted that I bring his erhu into the picture to prove that they are indeed from him because there are a lot of fakes around.


I chose the best 2 from his lot of 5. Initially I just wanted to take 1 with me because one of my customer from Germany had ordered it but another sounded so good I just had to take it away with me.

So there you have it. One aged rosewood Wang Gen Xing erhu specially selected and brought back from Shanghai by me.

If you are interested, click here to purchase it.

*Latest update: The erhu is sold*

Video on Erhu Symbols in Music Scores

This video was done quite sometime back. The short version was posted in youtube while the full version was available to members of our mailing list. (http://www.eason.com.sg/shopping/mailinglist.jsp)

I have since posted the full version on youtube as well and here it is:

Gong For Hire!

Looking to start off your event with a big bang?

We have Chinese Chao Gongs on for rental.


The gongs are fixed on stands with wheels which makes it easy to move it to the centre of your stage.

The gong in the picture measures 80cm in diameter. (100cm gongs are available as well)

The stand measures 142cm tall and 116cm wide.

Perfect for opening ceremonies by guest of honour.

Please email tansungwah@eason.com.sg for rates.

Videos of Chinese Percussive Instruments

We've come up with a series of videos of Chinese percussive instruments like Chinese drums, gongs, cymbals and others.

The purpose of the videos is to show how the instruments sound like and how they are played.

The videos will be posted to our youtube site periodically. (http://www.youtube.com/tansungwah)

The first of the lot is about hand gongs - the low, mid and high pitched hand gongs.



You can view more information about the gongs here:

1) Low pitch hand gong
http://www.eason.com.sg/products/gong/pl10.jsp

2) Mid pitch hand gong
http://www.eason.com.sg/products/gong/pl9.jsp

3) High pitch hand gong
http://www.eason.com.sg/products/gong/pl8.jsp

Special thanks to Kenny Ng for helping out!

A CD of tunes featuring 12 different kinds of Huqin

Here's a CD featuring tunes played using 12 different kinds of Huqins or Chinese string instruments.

Just when you thought there is only the Erhu, there are actually Yihu, Sanhu, Hamihu, Banhu, Jinghu and others.

Its quite interesting to listen to the tone produced by the different instruments as well as the unique flavours and styles associated with each instrument.

It was recorded by a Beijing erhu player Liu Chong Zeng (currently residing in Singapore) a few years back. Only a few hundred copies were produced and distributed locally in Singapore. I'm left with slightly less than 50 it will never be re-printed again. The cost is only US$9.95.

Here's the link to the CD:

http://www.eason.com.sg/products/books/mb16.jsp

You can listen to some samples in the link if you are using internet explorer. For some reason it does not work with Firefox.

The Things German Customs Do....

I recently sent an erhu to a German customer of mine. When he received his erhu, the erhu case was cut open at various places.

Either they used a chainsaw to open the brown packaging, or they are checking if I slipped any drugs in between the folds.















And I got a package containing a Hulusi returned to me from Germany as well. According the customer, the customs could not see the price written on a very obvious custom declaration slip stuck onto the package. Since they could not ascertain how much to charge for custom duties, they have to send the package back to me!

Hey hey hey! Look carefully next time please!

Video on how to get to Eason Enterprises from Bugis MRT Station

Some of my customers have trouble finding their way to my shop. So I've made a video on how to get to our shop from Bugis MRT station. It is just a 5 minutes walk away.

New Video on the Basics of Ruan

Just finished a new video on the Ruan.

Its a 4 minute video on the basics of Ruan playing.

Special thanks to Clara Tan for making this possible.

If you want to learn how to play the ruan, please email tansungwah@eason.com.sg.

Here is the video:



This is the instrument used in the video: http://www.eason.com.sg/products/ruan/tbzr13.jsp