ABSTRACT
The bili, ancestor of the guanzi oboe still widely played in north China, is clearly documented as taking root in Chinese ensembles by the sixth century CE. But the shawm (historically, and officially, called suona: see below) – a wooden pipe with a small double-reed enclosed in the mouth, with a pirouette and a flared metal bell – appears to be a much later arrival. Like the bili, the shawm came to China by way of Central Asia, but despite several claims based on early murals (apparently as far back as the Han dynasty, 206 BCE-220 CE), evidence before the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) is isolated and dubious.2 While wind-and-percussion ensembles are documented in early Chinese courts and armies, the first reliable literary and iconographic evidence for bands with shawms and percussion is from the Ming.
