Archaeologists have discovered vessel-flutes like the xun in common graves of the Xia dynasty. Those had three finger holes and could produce the notes do, mi, so, la and fa. The shape of the instrument and number of finger holes of the xun as we know it today were standardized during the Shang dynasty. Most xun of that era had five finger holes and produced sound of much better quality. They were able to produce all the tones and half-tones in a single octave.