Paixiao

The paixiao (traditional: 排簫; simplified: 排箫; pinyin: páixiāo; also pái xiāo) is a Chinese wind instrument, a form of pan flute. A major difference between the Chinese Paixiao and the panpipes used in European and South American traditions, is that at the top of the Chinese instrument the pipe holes are each cut angled or with notches. This allows for bending the pitch in similar capacity to the dongxiao down a minor second. This allows Chinese paixiao to be fully chromatic without loss in timbre, even though the included pipes are tuned diatonically. The method of blowing so is to hold the head of the frame with both hands, with the mouthpiece facing the front, place the lower lip on the mouthpiece, and find and blow each tube according to the pitch.^[1]

In Korea, an instrument called the so (hangul: 소; hanja: 簫) was derived from the paixiao and used in ritual music. The so is made up of 16 bamboo tubes, so each sound is played in one tube.^[1]