The famous western violin melody Aria on G-string wins its popularity for its complicated performance on one single string. However, have you ever heard of the Chinese Erhu version of Aria on G-string?

Erhu, also called Huqin, was known as Xiqin during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Huqin described in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) records was the real forerunner of the modern Erhu, having its stem, sound box and pegs made of wood.

There lived one Xiqin (the original type of Erhu) musician, Xu Yan, in the Song Dynasty. Once he was invited to perform at an imperial banquet and his wonderful performance attracted all the audience. Suddenly, one string of his Xiqin broke, which scared the rest musicians: how could he continue his play with the absence of one string? In surprise, before the audience realized what happened, Xu immediately shifted all the tones of his broken string to another string. Only a Xiqin master as experienced as him could accomplish this in such short notice. The audience did not realize the swift change until Xu finished and told them all about this. They all praised him for his superb technique and prompt reaction.

This is the sister story of the Aria on G-string on Chinese traditional musical instrument -- Erhu.