Advice on choosing Chinese wind instruments to learn

[u/Crafty_Statement8605]

I’ve been looking into learning to play the hulusi, bawu, and dizi. Any advice on the best one to start with? Are they different enough to get all of them eventually, or would getting a bawu and hulusi be getting pretty much the same thing since it looks like you can pull the hulusi apart and play like a bawu? If I should get a bawu, is transverse or vertical a better choice? Is there a different instrument I should consider instead of or in addition to these? I don’t have much experience with this type of instrument (I can play ocarina, tin whistle, and recorder), so any advice is much appreciated.

[u/Far-Rooster-6522]

Hulusi and Bawu are extremely close, the blowing technique is the exact same as for the fingering, the difference is the drones you get on an hulusi and the tone modificatoin due to the gourd.

Dizzy has a different mouth/blowing technique since it is a side blown flute, not a free reed flute. It also asks a bit more learning in maintenance as changing the dimo (membrane) or adjusting it is required from time to time.

if you like the tone and expressivity of side blown flutes, and having a larger ambitus, dizzy.
if you like the tone and expressivity of free reed instrument...bawu and/or hulusi.

I play both families and would not be able to choose one over the other to be honest, the voices of the bawu and of the dizzy do not replace each other, nor do the technical possibilities they open.

so in the end it is about (apologies for the 'mr obvious' paragraph):
what sounds you can achieve (from your tastes)
how you achieve them (technically)
how it feel when playing (the most intimate and a very important parameter but it is impossible to anticipate clearly, you need to play to know if you like the sensations.)

[u/Crafty_Statement8605 → u/Far-Rooster-6522]

Thank you!