Taoxun, shaped like a goose egg, is a wind instrument made from argil. There is a mouth at the top and six holes at the side face. Its sound holes are arranged similar to that of flute. Professional players can produce 26 tones out of it.

 

Xun, with a history of about 7000 years, is a mouth-closed wind instrument exclusively found in China's Primitive Society and is one of the oldest wind instruments in China. Xun came from the production activity of the Chinese ancestors. It is presumed that people originally invented Xun to imitate the sound of birds so as to ensnare quarries. Most of Xun was originally made of stones and bones, and later argil. It can be made into a variety of shapes like flat round, oval, sphere, fish, pear, etc, among which, the pear shape is the most popular. Primitive Taoxun excavated in the Hemudu Site was in oval shape, with a mouth but without sound holes. With the development of the society, Taoxun was evolved into a pure musical instrument. Then sound holes were added gradually, and Taoxun was developed into a musical instrument capable of making melodies. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, Taoxun was mainly used to play elegant palace music.

 

Tone colors of Taoxun are simple and unsophisticated, deep and sad, pure and beautiful, bringing the feeling that a person is far from the madding crowd. It has been favored by scholars of every dynasty in several thousand years and has come down until today. In addition, it is worthy of appreciation due to its simple shape, exquisite touch feeling, and the capability to be painted with gold on the body.