有“中国弓弦乐之神手”美誉的刘明源，一九三一年农曆五月二十八日生于天津，一九九六年二月二十一日病逝于北京。六岁从父亲学习板胡和京胡，七岁登台，十五岁从事于音乐工作，曾学习丝竹音乐、广东音乐、京剧、评剧、河北梆子等。一九四七至一九五二年，在天津胜利、皇宫、永安、惠中等歌舞团及评剧团任乐队队员。一九五七年，以中国青年艺术家代表身份参加第六届世界青年联欢节民间乐器演奏比赛，荣获金质奖章。一九八二年起，担任中国音乐学院器乐系教授，除了胡琴之外，刘明源还学会弹钢琴，曾担任过爵士钢琴师；同时，亦曾拜师学习蒙古歌谣，对蒙古音乐风格颇能掌握。刘明源致力于发展中国的弓弦乐器：曾改革研制了高音和中音板胡，又创制了中胡，并创作和改编有《喜车红马送粮忙》、《丰收乐》、《马车在田野上奔驰》等板胡曲，《草原上》等中胡曲及《喜洋洋》等民乐合奏曲，风靡全国，深受听众的普遍欢迎。
LIU Ming-yuan
LIU Ming-yuan was born on July 13, 1931 in Tianjin, Hebei province and passed away of illness on February 21, 1996 in Beijing. Influenced by his father, LIU Ming-yuan started to learn the banhu and Beijing opera at the age of five. He gave his first stage performance at the age of seven. When he was eleven, he joined the performing activities of some Chinese music groups in Tianjin, thus having the opportunity of listening to and learning from various musicians for different kinds of Chinese music. In between 1947 to 1951, he joined the ensembles of Song and Dance Troupes in Tianjin. In 1952, he worked as instrumentalist and orchestrator in a Tianjin drama group. Since 1953 when the first professional Chinese orchestra in China was established with twenty eight members by a film company, he had been serving that orchestra as soloist and leader. Over the thirty years, he had been involved in the production of music for nearly a thousand films. In 1957, LIU Ming-yuan joined the traditional instrumental competition in the 6th World Youth Festival and won a gold medal. In 1982, he started to teach in China Conservatory and concentrated his major efforts in teaching. Under his guidance, some young soloists won awards in international Chinese music competitions. He became a representative figure among the Chinese bow string masters after LIU Tian-hua and Ah Bing.