KHS was first founded with the "Wan Wu" name in Taiwan in 1930 by Tsu-Cheng Hsieh as an educational products company and was renamed to KHS in 1945. KHS stands for "Kung Hsue She" which means a company helping schools and culture. KHS started harmonica production in 1956 and started band instrument production a year later in 1957. By 1980 KHS was a full-scale musical instrument manufacturer and the Jupiter brand was started to market a complete line of wind instruments and percussion. In 1985 KHS established the Musix company and KHS acquired Altus flutes in 1990, Ross Mallet Instruments in 1994 and Hohner/Sonor percussion in 1997. Altus flute employees and specialists from Japan worked as KHS technical advisors.