Xun is the originator of clay instruments. When many people see the ocarina, they will think of the ancient Chinese musical instrument Xun. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, the ocarina is also called Yangxun. Although these two instruments appeared a long time ago, China's xun has a much longer history, but it cannot be confirmed that the ocarina was developed under the influence of xun. Considering the specific conditions of primitive society and the pottery unearthed from various places, it is currently unclear whether this production technology was taught to each other by someone. Ocarina instruments have a long history. In 1973, many bird bones with different numbers of holes were unearthed in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. These bird bones were tested by carbon 14 and were found to be 7,000 years old. Experts identified them as hunting tools used by ancestors to trap birds. Some bone whistles can still produce simple tones that resemble birdsong. In addition, the oldest xun in China was also unearthed here, but it only has one blowing hole and no sound hole. Normal blowing can only produce one sound. (Many folk clay whistle artists use one blow hole to express several scales) A ??batch of clay-fired utensils were unearthed in Ecuador, South America. They were made around 2000 BC. Analysis found that at that time The craftsmanship of clay reached a high level, and these instruments proved not to be toys, some of which could play simple music. After development, between 500 and 600 BC, the Ocarina made by the Mayans could play a complete scale. The ocarina came to Europe from the Americas during the Spanish occupation. In 1527, a group of Mexican Aztec artists used whistled ocarinas in performances for the court of Charles V. The performance was a great success and left a deep impression on everyone present. After they became famous, they often performed throughout Europe, making more people aware of this instrument. The origin of the name Ocarina. There is a saying that there was a baker named Juzeppe in Budurio, a small village in northern Italy. He often used his oven to bake low-temperature ceramic toys and some novelties. Once he fired He invented an egg-shaped toy with a neck-like whistle on it. Because it resembled the shape of a gosling commonly seen in daily life, he named it "ocarina", which means "little gosling" in Italian dialect. The English name of the ocarina "ocarina" comes from here, and is transliterated as Ocarina flute. This name is still commonly used today. With the development of free trade and the industrial revolution, the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1861. In 1860, Giuseppe Donati established the first factory in Italy and began to make ocarinas. They transformed the original popular ocarinas and now see Italy The ten-hole ocarina appeared after that. This studio has been transferred several times and is still producing Italian-style ocarinas. During the First and Second World Wars, due to the small size and easy playing of the ocarina, this instrument became popular in the U.S. military to boost morale. In order to facilitate mass production, plaster or plastic materials were generally used, and the shapes were mostly small. Goose shape and sweet potato shape. You can see this kind of ocarina in the film "Cell No. 17". With the popularity of the ocarina, John Taylor made the first four-hole ocarina in 1963 in London, England. The four holes of different sizes seemed to be arranged in a binary system and could be combined into sixteen different states. For the first time More sound is achieved with fewer holes. The fingering method is also different from the previous sequential fingering method. It adopts cross fingering method. In addition, it can be expanded to 5 holes, 6 holes or even more, and the sound range is also increased. The popular six-hole ocarina is based on it. In Japan, Takashi Akitagawa, who was still a high school student at the time, saw the Italian ocarina for the first time at the German Expo in Tokyo, which left a deep impression on him and aroused great interest in it. When he entered the Sculpture Department of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1928, he began to make ocarinas and transformed the Italian ocarina into an instrument with standardized fingering scales. This is the twelve-hole sun we see now. In Japan, the ocarina also has a name called earth flute.

With the popularity of the twelve-hole Japanese ocarina in Japan, many famous ocarina players have appeared. Soujiro is one of them. His "Original Scenery of Hometown" has appeared in many martial arts movies and TV series shot in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The earliest popular ocarina in Taiwan was the Peruvian-style craft ocarina. It could produce sound but was not easy to play the scales with standard fingerings. It was later improved and has now become the main ocarina style in Taiwan. It is called Taiwanese style in mainland China. Ocarinas are conventionally shaped like a drop or heart, but there are also various variations of ocarinas. There are many places in Taiwan where ocarinas are made, such as Dingji Ocarina in Nantou County, Tangshan Biandi in Kaohsiung City, Zonghan Ocarina, Shicheng Ocarina, etc., among which is Chengcheng Ocarina. The fingering method of the ocarina variety developed by Chen Jinxu is different from the popular standard six-hole type. When talking about the development of ocarina in China, there are two people who cannot fail to mention: Mr. Zi Lei and Mr. You Xuezhi. Both of them are very prestigious people in the ocarina industry. Mr. Zi Lei has established four "Ocarina" companies in China. Commune", Mr. You Xuezhi played a big role in promoting the ocarina in Taiwan. Both of them played an irreplaceable role in promoting the development of the ocarina. So far, they have released many ocarina music records. The name "Ocarina" in mainland China also follows the name from Taiwan. In 2001, ocarina makers in Shandong began to make and sell 8-hole ocarinas in small batches locally, which can play a 9-degree range of about 5-6 centimeters. Nishao, since the end of 2002, has established a workshop to mass-produce 8-hole and 4-hole ocarinas that are geared towards entertainment souvenirs. In April 2004, Shandong Linyi Huaqiang Ocarina Factory was established. In October of the same year, Li Yunlin of Ningxia opened the Taoist Ocarina a few days later. The Ocarina website, which is now the "Predecessor of China Ocarina Network", was closed due to poor operation after 8 months due to the huge amount of output at that time and the difficulty in responding to the scope and demand of the cognitive environment. , returned to the status of a workshop. From around 2004 to the present, more ocarina makers have appeared in China. Several of them were originally mainly engaged in making pottery xuns and also made ocarinas, such as Longyun Lefang and Li Yunlin. Mainstream products use the finger holes of the Xun, which is easier to play than the Xun, but the fingering method is troublesome. Some manufacturers, in order to avoid the trouble of cross fingering teaching and production, apply the finger hole arrangement of the Chinese flute, which is not suitable for those who have a flute background. It is easy for people to get started, but the sound range is too narrow; some of them are based on Taiwan's six-hole ocarina. After imitation and improvement, they have inherited the characteristics of this type of ocarina that are easy to play and learn. For example, the 7-hole ocarina made by Sun Jiangang of Xiamen Yadi Workshop. At the same time, many ocarina makers from Taiwan Province have also set up factories in mainland China to produce ocarinas, such as Xinli Porcelain Flute in Jingdezhen. These ocarina production teams It played a very important role in the popularity of ocarina in mainland China. Currently, the largest ocarina factory in the world is Fengya Ocarina in Jiaxing, China, which has made rapid breakthroughs in the field of ocarina production! At present, the mid-bass three-tube ocarina is the top product in the world. I believe that the ocarina will become a popular musical instrument in mainland China soon!