Stone Pai-Xiao: The Spring and Autumn Period, unearthed at the Chu Tomb, Xiasi, Xichuan.

As an ancient saying goes, “The Ninth Chapter of Xiao Shao, so well performed, has attracted phoenixes.” The ancient music of the Shaoyue, played by Pai-Xiao, did not only invite the holy phoenix, but also nurtured the saint Confucius to such an extent that he for three months did not notice the taste of the meat he ate and exclaimed the perfection of the music. The ancient world is teemed with glorifications for Pai-Xiao, of which the figure is like the wing of phoenix and the sound resembles its singing. Pai-Xiao, taking the form of a triangular wing, is made of stone and grayish-white in color.

  

Ten round openings are available to the player; they evenly distributed. The lengths at the bottom reduce successively, and in the middle there is a projecting tube of a transverse band. It is earliest in Chinese history. The materials for the ancient Pai-Xiao unearthed in Henan are divided into bone, stone, and bamboo. The Stone Pai-Xiao unearthed at the Chu Tomb, Xiasi, Xichuan, consists of thirteen serial tubes of different lengths, all made out of a single stone. The tube walls are each 1mm in thickness. The accuracy of the arrangement of temperaments and the perfection of the craftsmanship have proved the superior artistic standard of the ancient Chinese music some two thousand years ago.

  

According to Beitang Shuchao, an ancient Chinese encyclopedia, Pai-Xiao is described as “Resembling wind’s wings and ringing; the figures differ, and the long blast sounds serious.” According to Tao Zhu, ancient scholar, “The shape (of Pai-Xiao) is like the wing of wind; it consists of ten tubes, and is two-chi in length.” Accordingly, Pai-Xiao is also called Cen-Ci, or Wind Xiao.

  

The depths of the tube’s holes are different from the corresponding outside lengths; the inner diameters decrease successively from the longest tube to the shortest. Also some of the tubes nozzles are severely damaged; the rest can also play melodies of different pitches.