Chinese Musical Instruments of Beijing Olympics 2008

Well, back to the Shanghai fair again.

Inside Shanghai Dunhuang's booth(the one with the giant lute - see previous entry), there is a special room where they house the Beijing Olympics 2008 Chinese musical instruments.

I only know that erhus were used in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Seems like there are more Chinese musical instruments specially made for that occasion.

The first one is a chime stone. You hit it with the beater as shown.

'No touching' it says, but I touched.


The second is a weird looking erhu.


The headstock looks like a Christmas tree.


The body looks like some prop from the Gladiator movie.

It has a 'no touching' sign as well. Again, I touched.


Here are 2 Beijing Olympic flutes.


Don't know if it was used during the Beijing Olympics, but it has the words 'Olympics flute' in Chinese engraved.

'No touching' again. But again I touched.


A huge drum here.


Noticed the sign says 'You may touch', but I didn't. Not very good at taking orders eh?


Finally, my favourite - the erhu that was used by 67 Chinese babes during the Beijing Olympics closing. It is a collaboration between Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland Music.

It is a traditional electric erhu. Traditional in the sense that the erhu is like any traditional erhu, very similar to this model of erhu that I am selling in my online store. Electric in the sense that there are electronic components attached to it that allows the tone to be amplified and modified.

Here's a body shot of it.

The erhu has a cloud design headstock that symbolises prosperity.


There is an effects pedal affixed on the neck of the erhu. You can add reverb, delay, chorus etc to the tone of your erhu. By fixing it on the neck allows you to toggle the effects easily.


Some knobs in front of the erhu for you to set the parameters of the different effects.


The back is where you insert a 9 volt battery.


The brand names of Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland.


Real python skin was used for the resonator.


Here's where the cable goes.


I have 2 of these sitting in my shop. I haven't decide if I want to sell it yet. The last time I heard, the current market price in China is 30,000rmb, about 6000SGD, or 4000USD.

Feel free to let me know if you want to take a look at it if you ever drop by my shop.