The lāruǎn is a relatively new Chinese string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 blending the acoustics of the ruan

Ruan

The ruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel...

with that of the Western cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

. Its larger counterpart is the dalaruan, which corresponds to the double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

.

These musical instruments were created in the 20th century to be an alternative to other bowed bass register instruments used in Chinese orchestras, such as dihu

Dihu

The dihu 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...

, cello/double bass, gehu

Gehu

The gehu is a Chinese instrument developed in the 20th century by the Chinese musician Yang Yusen . It is a fusion of the Chinese huqin family and the cello. Its four strings are also tuned C-G-D-A, exactly like the cello's...

/diyingehu

Diyingehu

The diyingehu is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family. It was developed by Yang Yusen along with the gehu in the 20th century...

, damatouqin/dimatouqin, and paqin/dapaqin. The China National Traditional Orchestra of Beijing is one of the few Chinese orchestras using this instrument.

See also

• Ruan
  Ruan
  The ruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel...
  
  
• Gehu
  Gehu
  The gehu is a Chinese instrument developed in the 20th century by the Chinese musician Yang Yusen . It is a fusion of the Chinese huqin family and the cello. Its four strings are also tuned C-G-D-A, exactly like the cello's...
  
  
• Dihu
  Dihu
  The dihu 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...
  
  
• Traditional Chinese musical instruments
  Traditional Chinese musical instruments
  -The Eight Sounds or Eight Tones :The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are other instruments which may not fit these classifications. This is one of the first musical classifications ever.-Silk :...