The muffled flute has a long history, but when and where did it originate? It is difficult to find out today. According to many old folk artists in the Yi nationality area in Yunnan, the ancestors of the Yi nationality once used a small muffled flute to blow off the flood and saved the lives of the Yi family.

In "Muffled Flute Tears" published by Jinsha River Literature and Art, No. 3, 1980, Kimerrekuo (Yi nationality) described a romantic legend: "...the white-bearded old man posed as an elder and said : 'People who are descendants of Apu Apo (the name of the holy ancestor of the Yi nationality), listen to me, our Yi family's life was saved by muffled flute. In the year of the flood, the water flooded to the halfway of Mount Nawu. , seeing the flood water will wash our Yi family. It was our distant ancestor who blew the flood back with a muffled flute, and our Yi family was able to pass on the lineage to this day'." The story praised the artistic charm of muffled flute, endow it with great and magical powers.