The origin of ox horns is closely related to the primitive hunting activities such as witchcraft. It was first used in ethnic minorities and is closely related to animal husbandry and hunting life.

Cow horns have been widely used in many dynasties in the history of our country. In prehistoric and Xia and Shang dynasties, both ox horns and pottery horns were used as signal devices. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, horns have been used in military honor guards and advocacy music. In addition to the natural horns of animals, horns made of bamboo, wood, leather, copper and other materials also appeared. It can be seen from the "Han Dynasty Drumming Band Picture" that the horns used in the Han Dynasty are very large, not natural horns such as cow horns, but artificial horns.

There are many horns in the collection of the China Musical Instrument Museum, Institute of Music, China Academy of Art, Beijing. Among them is a Hunan Miao horn, made of water buffalo horn, with a total length of 54 cm, a mouthpiece diameter of 2 cm, and an aperture of 0.5 cm. Oval, with a long diameter of 10 cm and a short diameter of 6 cm. The tube body is engraved with three circular patterns at 12 cm near the mouthpiece. This corner has been included in the large-scale picture book "Chinese Musical Instruments Illustrated Guide".