Konghou was originally called Kanhou or Konghou, and there are two types: lying and standing. As far back as the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State in southern China already had a reclining Konghou similar to Qin and Se. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the vertical Konghou was used in music of Xiliang, Qiuci, Shule, Goryeo and India, and spread to Japan in the east. It was used less and less in the Ming Dynasty, and it was lost for three hundred years.

In the Han Dynasty Liu Xiang's "Shiben Zuozan", there are records: "The Duke of Kong, created by the Duke of Kongguo" and "The Duke of Kong, made by Shiyan, and the sound of extravagance. From Pushang, take the name of the Duke of Kongguo" records . What Liu Xi's "Release of Names" contains is also the same as that in "World Edition". Konghou was "made by Shi Yan", the music official of King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty, "from Pushang". King Zhou was the last monarch of the Shang Dynasty. Pushang, that is, above the Pushui, in the territory of the ancient Wei Kingdom, that is, the area of Puyang, Henan today. It shows that the Wo Konghou has a history of more than 3,000 years.

Eastern Han Dynasty

Ying Shao's "Customs and Tongyi" says: "Han Hou, please follow the "Han Book of Suburban Sacrifice Records": 'Emperor Xiaowu entered Nanyue, prayed to Taiyi and Houtu in the temple, began to use the tune of Lerenhou, and used the qin as the chime Music, it is said that its ridges and ridges should be rhythm, and the surname of Hou is crowned with the ear. ) Sai Nanyue, Praying Temple Taiyi, Houtu, began to use music and dance, Yizhao songs, made twenty-five strings, and Konghou, and the qin and seren began from this." This account of Sima Qian shows that the ancient reclining Konghou had pillars. Play a stringed instrument.

Han Dynasty

Lying Konghou was included in the "Qingshang Music" as a representative musical instrument of "Huaxia Zhengsheng". At that time, it had five strings and more than ten columns, with bamboo as a groove and played with a wooden pluck. It was not only popular in the Central Plains and southern China, It also spread to Northeast China and Korea, and also spread to Japan in the prosperous times of Sui and Tang Dynasties. Du You's "Tong Dian" in the Tang Dynasty contains: "The Konghou, the old one is based on the qin system. Now it is shaped like a serpent and is small. It has seven strings and is played with a pluck, like a pipa." The voice was lost, and it was replaced by the expressive qin and zheng. However, the Lying Konghou has been passed down in neighboring North Korea and South Korea, and has become today's Xuanqin after being passed down and improved through the ages. In Japan, because it was introduced through the country of Baekje at that time (Goryeo and Baekje are both ancient names of Korea), it is called Baekjeum. Today, it is still possible to see his musical instrument images from the brick paintings of the Wei and Jin tombs in Jiayuguan, Gansu, the caisson murals of the Northern Wei tombs in Ji'an, Liaoning, and the murals of the Ji'an Koguryo tombs, and to see the playing style of the Wo Konghou.

Tang Dynasty

Changsun Wuji and others wrote "Sui Shu·Music Zhi", which states: "Today's pipa and vertical-headed Konghou are from the Western Regions, not the old Chinese utensils." Regarding its shape, Du You's "Tongdian" in the Tang Dynasty has Cloud: "The vertical Konghou, Hu Le is also good for Han Lingdi (Liu Hong). The body is curved and long, with two (one for three) strings at twenty. It is held vertically in the arms and played in unison with both hands, commonly known as the arm Konghou. ." In the book of the Five Elements of the Later Han Dynasty by Fan Ye of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, it was stated that "Lingdi loves Hu clothes... Hu Konghou, Hu Di, Hu Wu, and nobles and relatives in Kyoto all competed for it." Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty He reigned from 168 AD to 188 AD, according to which the Konghou has a history of at least nearly two thousand years. This kind of konghou, which has a curved resonance groove, legs and ribs, and more than 20 strings, was popular in the Chinese music scene from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Tang and Song dynasties. Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Dream Lianglu" (Volume 3) once described: "Three feet high, shaped like half a wooden comb, black lacquer carved gold painting pedestal, with twenty-five strings, one person kneeling and crossing his arms." It is a large vertical konghou, and there is also a relatively small vertical konghou. It is held in the left hand and played with the right hand. It is mostly used in honor guard music. Today, although there are no real objects of the ancient vertical konghou, it can be seen in the reliefs of music playing in the Yungang Grottoes in Datong from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties in China, the frescoes of the "Sui Dynasty Band" in Dunhuang, and the reliefs in the tomb of Wang Jian, the former emperor of Shu during the Five Dynasties in Chengdu. The images of playing the harp are exactly like the harps seen on the Assyrian reliefs, and Persia is the origin of the Assyrian harp.

Song and Yuan Dynasties

The two generations continued to circulate, and it became less and less used in the late Ming Dynasty. Later, it became even rarer, and even lost its transmission for more than 300 years. In the 1930s, the Shanghai Datong Music Club produced the big Konghou, the small Konghou and the phoenix-headed Konghou, but due to the wars or other reasons over the years, they have not been passed down.

In recent years, domestic musical instrument researchers have designed and trial-manufactured a new type of Konghou with reference to ancient documents and modern harp principles. The body is 175 cm high and 85 cm wide, with two rows of strings, each with forty-four strings. The strings corresponding to the two rows are of the same tone, for a total of 44 notes. The vocal range is D-e3, arranged in the C major hexatonic scale and used in performance practice.