Er cymbal (pinyin: dà sān xián) is a plucked stringed musical instrument of Mongolian, Manchu, and Han nationalities. Popular in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces.

Sanxian is a traditional Chinese plucked musical instrument. It is named after Zhang Yousanxian. Influenced by different regions, ethnic groups and cultural customs, sanxian has always been in various forms, which can be roughly classified into large and small sanxian. After the 1950s, some instrument reformers and sanxian players made improvements on the basis of these two types of sanxian and achieved great success.

The traditional sanxian has a total length of about 122 cm and is composed of a resonance box, a headstock, a piano rod, a peg, a bridge and strings (pictured). The sound box, also known as the drum, drum or drum head, is mostly flat and oval in shape, like a turtle plate, and there are also flat round or flat rectangular, but there are fewer.

In the late 1950s, the short-bar big sanxian was designed by Mr. Xiao Jiansheng, a famous Chinese sanxian performer and educator, and manufactured by Tianjin National Musical Instrument Factory. This new type of big sanxian has a standard of the Ministry of Light Industry and is 112 cm in length. The length of the piano bar is 75 cm, the length of the drum is 23 cm, the width is 20 cm, and the thickness is 9 cm. The piano bar is short and the handle is close, which can play fast playing skills; there is a movable mountain pass, which can be adjusted at will; the fingerboard and the drum surface are leveled , the range is extended one octave upwards. Suitable for solo or folk band use.

When playing the big sanxian, use the sitting position, with the legs naturally separated, the left leg slightly stretched forward, or the right leg is placed on the left leg, the qin drum is placed on the right leg, and the headstock is inclined to the upper left. Lightly hold the piano rod with the left hand, press the strings with the index finger, middle finger, and ring finger, and the gesture is in the dragon claw style. play.