According to He, when the group saw a pair of couplets written by Wuxi erhu master Min Huifen at a museum in Shanghai, they already could not wait to visit the city.

"Wuxi is a nice place to visit, especially for erhu players," said He.

The trip certainly proves a valuable one. The group played erhu together in front of the Second Spring under Heaven to commemorate the legendary erhu musician Hua Yanjun, and posed for photos in front of Hua's statue in Chong'an Temple.

A group of erhu learners from Qingdao, Shandong province perform at the Erhu Culture Park of Wuxi's Meicun sub-district, a place often recognized as the "hometown of the erhu" in China. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In Meicun's Erhu Culture Park, they had the chance to talk with local instrument makers and tuners, and hung up banners paying tribute to erhu luminaries from history.

The group's trip has now ended, but He hopes the trip will be just the beginning. He called on erhu lovers to organize more events to promote mutual exchanges, and Wuxi deserves to be the ideal base.