Houguan is also called bamboo pipe. It is developed based on the designs of guanzi which is a folk instrument in China. It was only a tool for the vendors to attract customers along the streets at the beginning of its development in Guangdong province. Until the late 1920s, it began to be performed in the Cantonese music and dramas. After that, it gradually became popular with the people living in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

Houguan has a very simple structure. It is constituted by the whistle, pipe and the trumpet. The whistle is made of the reed and it has a big mouth. The pipe may be made of several kinds of materials including the plastic, the bamboo with long caudexes, ebony, rosewood and metal. Among all these materials, the bamboo pipe has the best beautiful tone. There are seven sound holes in the pipe. To expand the volume and for decoration, the end of the pipe is installed with a sheet copper.

The tone of houguan is similar to that of guanzi, which has a pure and deep voice with slightly the sound effect of rhonchus. It is often played together with the mediant or bourdon hu, to put emphasis on the mediant and undertone parts.

In the ethnic band, performers often use the mediant houguan in G tone and the bourdon in D tone. The former measures fifty three centimeters long and one to one point three centimeters at the inner-radius. There is only one octave within the range. In comparison, the other one in D tone is longer and wider. However, the range is narrower, and it is inconvenient to switch the tones. In the 1960s, some designers developed a kind of houguan with keys, and added the sound holes to eighteen or nineteen. Not only can it play the half tone, but also is easy to switch tones. Meanwhile, the range has been expanded to two octaves, and it has become a solo performing instrument. Besides, the voice part has been divided into mediant, tenor, undertone and double bass.