(matou or morin: horse head; qin or hor: fiddle)

A legend says on the Mongolian grasslands a lord killed a white horse with his bow. The horse's owner, Suhe, was distraught and missed his horse dreadfully. One night the dead horse came into his dream, saying to him., "Make an instrument with my body. Then I can accompany you for ever and you will not be lonely." So the first type was made, with horse hair as its strings, the horse bones as its neck, the horse skin covering its wooden sound box, and its scroll carved into the shape of a horse head.

The instrument has a few other names both in Mongolian and in Chinese in different areas. It is used beyond the inner Mongolian region and can be seen in other Mongolian living areas such as northeast and northwest china and even in Xingjiang region.

In performance the finger joints of the left hand stop the strings and more distinctively, finger nails can push the strings from inside out. The effect of double stop is often seen. The two strings are traditionally tuned a fourth apart. Deep and mellow in tone, the instrument, besides for solos, is used to accompany the singing of tales and folk songs.