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Buying an erhu in China

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 11:08 am

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rdhetrick
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Hi,

I just bought an erhu while on a business trip in China. I guess I should have done a little more research before I bought it, because now I'm really confused about the requirements to take it with me when I travel to the US. I've searched the web for a few hours and can't really get a definiative answer, so I thought I'd post it here.

I guess my bottom line question is: Do I need a CITES certificate to take my erhu with me on my flight from Shanghai to Chicago?

Thanks in advance for any response.

Rob

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 03:17 pm

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Clyde
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No. not in the US

God Bless

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 04:37 pm

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Shanghai Angels
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You will save A LOT if you buy Erhu in China.

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 06:39 pm

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mikebgn
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Clyde wrote: No. not in the US

God Bless

Interesting... I guess then that U.S. customs don't enforce CITES, eh?

According to this, the U.S. has signed on to CITES:

http://www.fws.gov/international/DMA_DSA/CITES/CITES_home.html

In Canada, I know that it is enforced; they will rip up the snake skin and hand you back your erhu if you have no CITES export permit.

Some folks do manage to get erhus in without a CITES export permit, but they are really taking their chances.

Anyhow, best of luck with getting your erhu into Chicago.

Hey, if they give you a hard time, just show them the article Dennis posted in another thread on this forum - where there are 150,000 Burmese Pythons flourishing in the Florida everglades that they want to get RID of! Anyhow, if they rip your skin, you know where to get a replacement :-)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090528/od_nm/us_everglades_pythons

Mikebgn

Last edited on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 06:46 pm by mikebgn

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 07:15 pm

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ychent
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You can always have the erhu shipped to your US address; that's what happened when I purchased from China. The safest thing is still to have CITES permit.

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Posted: Mon Jun 15th, 2009 11:52 pm

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rdhetrick
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Thanks for all the responses!

I'm far less concerned about being "hassled" in Chicago than I am in Shanghai. I have read other places that the Chinese officials have confiscated the erhu and placed criminal charges against a person. It seems a little extreme to me, but I read it on the internet so it must be true!!

Has anyone here actually hand carried their erhu with them out of China, or have you had them shipped?

Thanks again!

Rob

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 12:52 am

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reber
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I have brought a lot of stuff home from china and never been asked a thing, didn't try an erhu yet however. Next trip. I do know they will take moon cakes away.

Karl

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 01:05 am

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rdhetrick
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Thanks Karl,

I've brought a lot of stuff home before also and have never been questioned. Never tried moon cakes though! Maybe I'll get a few moon cakes to take with me, and they'll be so distracted by those that they won't notice the erhu!

Thanks again!

Rob

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 01:40 am

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reber
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One other thought, I've had a few things get broken- flute, carvings etc. Plan on you luggage coming in like someone jumped up and down on it. Carry on anything fragile!

Karl

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 01:53 am

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reber
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Just remembered, moon cakes might be hard to find this time of year. Anything with eggs in it will do the trick, just make sure you let them know you have food items. Big fine if you don't. Might just do the trick. The only reason I didn't bring an erhu last trip was I didn't have room.

Karl

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 02:01 am

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Den
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rdhetrick, I found a topic on page 5 that might tell a little, but it is related to the Canadian travelers... something mentioned about boarding the plane in china, needing a permit on the spot? read through it fyi , it is a 3 page topic. sure dont know if any of it pertains to you though. topic labeled "issues on cites............ or something like that.

Den

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 04:36 am

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davidmdahl
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Shanghai Angels wrote: You will save A LOT if you buy Erhu in China.

If you know how to identify a good erhu, there is at least a chance at finding one in China. There are a lot of bad instruments as well, and these are the easiest to find. They are not necessarily inexpensive though, so you can't choose by cost. Best is to go through a teacher who has a line on good instruments for his own students. It would be the best of luck to get an introduction to such a teacher.

My erhu teacher has many stories of parents trying to buy an erhu during trips to China. Usually they spend a lot more money than necessary. Sometimes the erhu is okay, but more often it is disappointing. Parents are usually a poor judge of an instrument they do not play.

My current best erhu was brought back from China in December by my teacher. An old school mate of his is a top-notch erhu maker, and let my teacher have his pick of a bunch of instruments. This sort of thing would not happen to strangers. A maker will save his best instruments for teachers and players that he knows. Excellent erhus are becoming rare, so they are saved for musicians who demonstrate that they deserve them, not for tourists who will never be heard from again.

I think the best chance of a good erhu for most people is Eason.

Best wishes,

David

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 04:41 am

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ychent
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I recall reading somewhere that you may bring 2 erhus out of China "for personal use", no customs/CITES required. I think the only way to find out for sure is to contact the customs and ask them.

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 04:43 am

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davidmdahl
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I will check with my teacher to be sure, but I don't think that he arranged for CITES certs for any of the erhus he brought back.

The parents of one of my teachers students bought an expensive erhu several years ago from China, and at some point got in trouble with the authorities. I never got a good explanation of the situation, so I don't know which agency gave them trouble, but it cost hundreds of dollars to get their erhu released.

I always order a CITES cert when buying an erhu from overseas to avoid potential problems. It is relatively cheap insurance against problems with Customs.

Best wishes,

David

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Posted: Tue Jun 16th, 2009 01:39 pm

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mikebgn
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rdhetrick wrote:
Has anyone here actually hand carried their erhu with them out of China, or have you had them shipped?

I'd say that the "standard" way how erhus get to where we are is when a fellow old timer erhu player visits China and they hand carry-on two erhu's back. One for themself and one for another fellow musician. There is usually at least one musican visiting China in any given year, and they know how to pick a good one, so it's nice that way. Without a CITES export permit for the snakeskin, however, they are taking their chances with customs. We also get most of our other chinese instruments (lutes etc) through the carry-on net :-)

Also, this previous thread regarding CITES discussion, erhus from China, etc may be of help, if you haven't found it already; I think somewhere in this thread mentions the 2 maximum allowed out of China...

http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/forum50/4555-3.html

Mikebgn

Last edited on Tue Jun 16th, 2009 03:17 pm by mikebgn

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Posted: Sun Sep 6th, 2009 04:57 am

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Theorbo
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I had a chance to visit China in March. I had my industrial attachment there for nearly 2 months really up north near the borders of North Korea. I got bored and decided to get an erhu. Found this really cool street hidden away from tourists even the locals do not know that street has such things. They were shop houses and one block serves different customers. One block serves motorists, another Chinese Opera costumes and supplies. You should know where i went. :brush1:

haha

Man, there are lots of erhus there, each shop has their own specialty selling only certain instruments. I found that many of the erhus there are made by makers I've never of heard in Singapore. WQX erhus are rare and in the 2000 yuan range but since I already have one I didn't bother getting one more of his. I got this instead.

bow with ebony frog and screw

I have no idea what wood was used but its really that red and i'm very certain that it wasn't stained. According to the shop owner (wife of a Dizi teacher), they recently got this batch from a novice maker. Name? unknown. Only that shop has this batch at that time.

Pricing in Yuan RMB,

erhu   300
bow   30
semi hard carrying case   60

total 390 Yuan RMB

after bargaining    240 Yuan RMB

convert to Singapore Dollars   S$53

erhu of that nature in Singapore would be in the S$300s

Bargaining is a must.

Tourists are a rare sight according to most owners. According to them most of the people there often got to know from their teachers, and their erhu teachers there are mostly Japanese. To see a non-Chinese Singaporean taught by a Malaysian teacher was really unthinkable.

I don't know whether its me or its real that I get better prices to start with if compared to locals.

____________________
world peace

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Posted: Sun Sep 6th, 2009 07:28 am

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huqiner
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240 RMB !!!?

Did someone leave off a zero?

That's exactly the same style of erhu as my Beijing made erhu, right down to the decorative grill at the open end, although the body contours on mine seems a bit less prominent, and the scales are a lot smaller. Does yours have a separate tube attached to the neck inside the body?