The so-called pipa in history does not only refer to the pipa with a pear-shaped resonance box, but a variety of plucked instruments. That is to say, Pi and Pa were originally the names of two playing techniques. Pi is played forward with the right hand, while Pa is played backward with the right hand. Therefore, the "pipa" at that time were similar in shape and different in size, such as Yueqin, Ruan, etc., which can be said to be pipa instruments.
Pipa is the main plucked instrument with a long history in China. After the improvement of the players, the shape has been unified, and it has become a four-string pipa with six phases and twenty-four frets. The pipa has a wide range of sounds, and its performance skills are the first in national instrumental music, and its expressiveness is the most abundant musical instrument in Chinese music. When playing, each finger of the left hand presses the strings at the corresponding grade, and the right hand wears false nails made of celluloid (or tortoiseshell) and other materials to pluck the strings to pronounce.
Around the Qin Dynasty, a round musical instrument with a long handle began to circulate. Because there are two main ways to play: pop forward and call it "Ba", and pick it backwards and call it "Ba", so people call it "Ba Ba". Later, in order to unify the writing with the qin, se and other musical instruments at that time, it was renamed the pipa.

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a pear-shaped sound box, curved neck, and four-string musical instrument came from the Western Regions. Some people combined it with the Chinese pipa and transformed it into a new style of pipa. In terms of playing method, the horizontal holding style is changed to the vertical holding style, and the plectrum is changed to the five-fingered playing of the right hand. After I don't know how many artists' improvement, it has become today's four-phase 13-pin and six-phase 24-pin pipa.
Pipa is also known as "Battle". It was first recorded in Liu Xi's "Release Names and Musical Instruments" in the Han Dynasty: "Baisai originated from Huzhong, and it was drummed immediately. Before pushing the hand, it is called the batch, but when the hand is drawn, it is called the handle. When the drum is used, it is named because of its name." This means that the batch handle is a musical instrument played on a horse, and it is called a batch when it is thrown forward, and it is called a handle when it is pulled backward; it is named "batch handle" according to its playing characteristics . In ancient times, knocking, hitting, playing, and playing were called drums.
At that time, nomads rode on horses to play the lute, so they were "drummed by horses". The Southern Dynasty King Sengqian's "Technique Record": "Empress Wei Wende Yashan pipa. The Ming emperor tried to use the clothes and beggars as music. When Yang Fu was on his side, he asked the emperor: 'The empress dowager, your majesty's mother-in-law, is the emperor's etiquette wrong?' The emperor felt ashamed. Withdrawing his hands, he came out later. When he leaned over, the emperor said to Fu: 'I know that you are respecting the festival, but since I am uneasy, I will now follow the words of Qing, and I can't see the people of Yi in the vast Xiangshui?' ." It can be seen that in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the name of "Pipa" officially entered the court.
The pipa evolved from the straight pipa and the Quxiang pipa in history. According to historical records, the straight pipa appeared earlier in China. The "Qin Hanzi" in the Qin and Han dynasties was the straight piece of the round resonance box with the straight handle. Pipa (sound box with skin on both sides), which was developed from the Xiantuo of the late Qin Dynasty. "Ruan Xian" or "Ruan" is a straight-handled wooden circular sound box with four strings and twelve columns, holding a pipa played by hand vertically. Ruan Xian was good at playing this instrument in the Jin Dynasty, so it was named after it, that is, today's Ruan.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, cultural exchanges were carried out with the Western Regions through the Silk Road, and the Quxiang Pipa was introduced to China from Persia via present-day Xinjiang. The pipa in Quxiang is pear-shaped with four strings and four phases (without pillars), and is played with a plectrum. It prevailed in the Northern Dynasties and spread to the Yangtze River Basin in the south in the first half of the 6th century AD.

In the fifth and sixth centuries AD, with the strengthening of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and the Western Regions, a kind of Quxiang Pipa was introduced from Central Asia, which was called "Hu Pipa" at that time. Its shape is a curved neck, a pear-shaped speaker, with four columns and four strings, much like the Oud or Ud commonly found in Arab countries or the Barbat of ancient Persia. Hold the pipa horizontally and play it with a plectrum. The modern pipa evolved from this kind of pipa.
From the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, it was the first peak in the history of pipa development. The Cao family of pipa, originally from the state of Cao (now northeast of Samarkand, Uzbekistan), is an outstanding representative, such as Cao Miaoda from the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, Pipa was named a king in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and after entering the Sui Dynasty, he was appointed as a music official in the palace, where he taught Pipa skills in Taile.
Among the nine and ten pieces of music in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Quxiang Pipa has become the main musical instrument, which has played an important role in the development of singing and dancing art in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. From Dunhuang frescoes and Yungang stone carvings, we can still see its status in the band at that time.