Since the 1950s, the copper gourds and shengdou unearthed from Tomb No. 24 in Lijiashan, Jiangchuan, Yunnan, and Shizhaishan Ancient Tombs in Jinning have been determined to belong to the period from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period. relic. There are three types: five, six and seven tubes. The bamboo or wooden sheng pipes have decayed and no longer exist, and the shape of the copper sheng bucket is slightly different. The two bronze buckets unearthed from Tomb No. 24 in Lijiashan are both decorated with a standing bull on the upper end. They are vivid in shape and are 26 and 28.2 centimeters in height respectively. The copper gourd and sheng are made of bronze gourds imitating the shape of natural gourds, and a bamboo and wooden sheng mouth is inserted for playing. Mainly used to accompany dances. For example, there is a Sheng dance in the main halo image on the face of the Kaihua Bronze Drum, and one of the eight people on the screen is dancing while playing the gourd Sheng. The image of playing the gourd sheng is also seen frequently ("Illustrated Book of Chinese Music History" II-48 to II-51).

Literature records indicate that gourd sheng began in the Tang Dynasty. Duan Anjie's "Yuefu Miscellaneous Records" records that during the Dazhong period of Tang Dynasty (847-859), "Yi tribe music... included gourd sheng". "Man Shu" written by Fan Chuo of the Tang Dynasty records that in Nanzhao (which covers all of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi and the northern regions of Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar), "Young children parade in the alleys at dusk, blowing gourds and shengs or blowing leaves, and the sound is rhyming. They all send love words and call each other. "New Book of Tang Dynasty: Nanzhao Biography": "Blow the sheng with four pipes. When the wine comes to the guests, use the sheng to push the cup to the table." "Guihai Yu Heng Zhi" written by Fan Chengda of the Southern Song Dynasty. ": "Gourd and Sheng are the music in Liangjiang Cave." Zhou Qufei of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in "Lingwai Daidai": "Gourd and bamboo are gathered in a gourd, and the sound is heard when you blow them."

The gourd is used as the pipe, and a long pipe is connected to the mouthpiece through a hole at the thin end. The pipe is about 25 centimeters long. The sheng pipe is made of yellow withered bamboo, with four to eight pipes, 9-90 cm long and 1-1.5 cm in diameter. It is arranged in a circle and slightly penetrates the belly of the gourd, and is fixed with wax. Each tube has a sound hole near the gourd, and the lower end is hollow as the bottom sound hole. The tube inserted into the gourd is embedded with a bamboo or copper reed 2 cm long and 0.2 cm wide.