The origin of ser is very long, and it accounts for the largest proportion of the stringed instruments found in archaeology. Its excavation sites are concentrated in Hubei, Hunan and Henan provinces, and most of them are from the Eastern Zhou tombs. In other provinces such as Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Liaoning, only a few sporadic findings were found. It is recorded in the literature that "Paoxi's" was a surrogate.
Legend has it that in the Xia Dynasty, there was already serenity. The word "le" on the oracle bone inscriptions has the word "silk" above it and the word "wood" below it. If you want to use strings, then the generation of ser should be after the emergence of silk. The raw material of the string, at least the technology that can reel the silk can make the string. Before and after the Qin Dynasty, the stringed instruments were the qin and the se.
Another speculation is that musical instruments such as qins and serpents may be related to hunting bowstrings. Of course, the raw materials for bowstrings can also be made from beef tendons or other animal rubber bands. The thickest bass strings in the serr unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng that we copied in 1984 are beef tendon strings.

Se is one of the earliest stringed instruments in our country. It was very popular in the pre-Qin Dynasty, and it was also very popular in the Han Dynasty. It was often used in the accompaniment of harmony songs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
"Book of Songs, Xiaoya" says: "...The qin and the serpent beat the drum, with Yutianzu, to pray for sweet rain, to introduce my millet, and to grain my native girl." This is the earliest record found in ancient books, indicating that there are at least 3,000 serpents. years of history. Confucius was good at drumming and used it to accompany his poems. At that time, Confucius’ drumming was an independent family and was known as “The Seer of Confucius” (“The Analects of Confucius Advanced”;
"Zhou Li·Musical Instrument Map" records: Yasser has twenty-three strings, and the chanting has twenty-five strings. Those decorated with precious jade are called "Baose", and those whose paintings are like brocade are called "Jinse".
"Han Book of Suburban Sacrifices" says: "The emperor ordered the female drummer to have fifty strings of serpents, but sad, the emperor could not stop them, so the strings were broken into twenty-five strings." Later, Se's production became more refined and more widely used. In the Zhou Dynasty, a serpent in the house temple dedicated to King Wen is tied with silk strings dyed in vermilion, with a sparse sound hole at the bottom, which can make a soothing sound when played.
"Historical Records: Fengchan Book": In the spring, after the destruction of Nanyue, there was a good news for Li Yannian, the minister. The superior was good, and the public minister discussed it, saying: "There is still music for encouragement in folk shrines, but today there is no music in the suburbs. How can it be called?" : "The Emperor made Su Nu's drum with fifty strings of serpents, but sadness, the emperor's prohibition continued, so he broke the strings into twenty-five strings." So he said Nanyue, prayed to Taiyi and Houtu in the temple, and began to use music and dance, and called songs to help him. Since then, I have made twenty-five strings and Konghou Qinse.