Do correct me if I am wrong, but is the instrument in the picture a Yazheng? I feel that it is the closest thing I have seen in the huqin line of instruments.

well, it certainly ain't a shamisen, as listed 0_0

a two string instrument with ridiculous fret? no idea

No, this is not shamisen. It's Yueqin (月琴).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yueqin

It's actually a dan nguyet
Yueqin has 4 strings.