The big sanxian is a plucked stringed musical instrument of Mongolian, Manchu, and Han nationalities. It is named after Zhang's three strings. Popular in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces.

The big sanxian is one of the oldest stringed instruments in the world invented and created by the ancestors of northern my country.

According to legend, in 214 BC, after Qin Shihuang destroyed the six kingdoms and completed the reunification, he sent Limin people to the frontier to build the famous Great Wall. Tuo was transformed, and silk strings were tied on it to make a flat round, leather-faced, long-handled, plucked musical instrument. At that time, it was called Xian Tuo, also known as pipa.

The preface of Fu Xuan's "Pipa Fu" in the Western Jin Dynasty reads: "Du Zhi (a man of the Three Kingdoms period) thought that at the end of the Qin Dynasty, he built the battle of the Great Wall, and the people sang and drummed it."

It is generally believed that the sanxian evolved from this kind of xiantuo, which was first used in the army of the northern frontier. The name of Sanxian was first recorded in Cui Lingqin's "Jiaofang Ji" in the Tang Dynasty: "Pingren women are selected by their appearance and color, and those who teach Pipa, Sanxian, Konghou, Zheng, etc. are called playing the family." But its shape is unknown.

In the Liao, Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, there are images of Sanxian playing. For example, there are stone statues of Sanxian music on the Liao Dynasty brick pagoda of Yunju Temple in Fangshan, Beijing, and figurines of music playing Sanxian were unearthed from the Jin Tomb in Xifeng Village, Jiaozuo City, Henan.

In the Yuan Dynasty, when China was ruled by the Mongolian nation, the sanxian became the main accompaniment instrument for Yuan music, and there are images of playing the sanxian in the murals of the Yuan tomb in Fujiatun, Lingyuan, Liaoning Province.

Since the Ming Dynasty, more and more documents have been recorded.

Jiang Mingqi from Beijing in the Ming Dynasty was a famous sanxian performer. His superb skills were hailed as one of the "eight masterpieces" of the capital. Ming Shenbang's "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes" said that he "can make qin, flute and other sounds in the strings". . In the Qing Dynasty, when the Manchus ruled China, around the middle of the 19th century, Ma Sanfeng, a rapper with a "wooden drum" in Gaoyang County, Zhili (now Hebei Province), made the sanxian longer and enlarged to create a big sanxian, which made it popular in the world. Accompaniment rap music has formed a unique style.