I went to a Chinese concert recently and was intrigued by one of the Chinese wind instruments Hulusi葫蘆絲 (photo below). It has a Calabash葫蘆 head connected to a bamboo body.

The bamboo has finger holes which the performer blocks/ unblocks while blowing through the mouth piece on the top. It sounds a bit like flute but as the Hulusi is made from Calabash, a full bodied fruit that has been emptied and dried. It has a rounder sound.

I was so excited to share my discovery that I started to sketch it out to show my colleague during tea time, only to find that it looked uncanningly similar to the beloved toy of my favourite childhood- Arale Norimaki 則卷小雲, the Japanese robotic girl who is invented by mad scientist Dr. Slump IQ博士. Arale is a little eccentric. She feeds on metal and putting poo on a stick. Hmm…..