'Beginning sound': Ancient jaw harp promotes musical charm over millennia

Kouxian remains popular with various ethnic groups in China. The kouxian music still played by ethnic Yi people, in Butuo, a county in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was added to the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage in 2008. Butuo is known as "the hometown of Yi people's kouxian music," because the delicately made folk instrument has been inherited by local residents throughout the generations. Even today, Yi people in Butuo like to carry bamboo-made kouxian with them, so they can play the instrument whenever they want to entertain themselves.

The kouxian music played by ethnic Qiang people, in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, in Mianyang, a city also in Sichuan, was added to the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage in 2011. Kouxian is a gift a young Qiang man normally gives his girlfriend when they are dating. Over time, an increasing number of Qiang women have come to play kouxian well.