Konghou is an ancient Chinese plucked musical instrument. It has a very long history of more than 2000 years. It was popular in the royal court and among the common folk as well. Between 618-907 AD, the height of the Tang dynasty, the economy and culture of China flourished. It was during this period that konghou was introduced to Japan, Korea, and other neighboring countries. Today there remain two broken instruments from the Tang dynasty in the Dongliang Temple in Japan. However, this ancient instrument was lost during the latter half of the 14th century. People today can only see the drawings of it in murals and embossments.

The Chinese musicians and instrument designers have spent a lot of time on the studies of the drawings of this instrument since the 1950s, and they have made several types of konghou as trial-reproductions. Due to short comings in the reproductions, the konghou did not become very popular until the 1980s. In the early 1980s, a new type of konghou was developed, the structure of which was very suitable for playing and which represents the ethnic features very well. Soon, it became widely used in musical performances.

The shape of the new instrument resembles that of the harp, but it has two rows of strings, and there are 36 strings in each row. The arrangement of string poles are like the order of the wild goose flying in the sky, so this instrument is called "yan zhu konghou." "Yan" means the wild goose, and "zhu" means the string poles.

The tone of yan zhu konghou is soft and clear, and its range is wide. Not only can it perform both ancient and modern ethnic music but also harp melodies. Because the two rows of strings have the same tones, it is suitable for playing rapid rhythms and overtones. It is unparalleled in producing rhythms and accompaniments in the mediant section of the two rows.   It is a very unique instrument.