When the children of the banner members of the Qing Dynasty organized the box office to sing the octagonal drum, they also included some other folk arts and acrobatic forms, which were called "quantang octagonal drum", or octagonal drum for short. Waist festival, horse head tune, demolition singing, cross talk, ancient color tricks, etc. It was extended to the Jiaqing and Daoguang years, and songs such as Danxianer and Xiyun were added.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Lianzhu Kuaishu was added. When performing, three to five to a dozen actors were required. In one church meeting, nine or a dozen programs were performed. To speak first, to sing the main. It is divided into three categories: "drum" (octagonal drum, big drum), "liu" (time-tuned ditty), and "color" (ancient color trick). Speaking, learning, amusing, singing, blowing, hitting, playing, pulling, and changing are all included. Therefore, it is called "the whole hall octagonal drum".
Chongyi's "Miscellaneous Notes on the Dynasty since the Dao and Xian Dynasty" said: "The whole hall of the octagonal drum is divided into three types: drum, slip, and color. Drum, singing; slip, cross talk, etc.; color, trick."
Beijing artists have slightly different opinions. They believe that "gu" refers to octagonal drums, Beiban plum blossom drums, and Lianzhu Kuaishu, etc.; "Color" refers to ancient color tricks, cross talk, double reeds and other forms.
The collection of popular songs of the Qing Dynasty, "The Sequel to the Neon Dress", "The Remains of Bai Xue", "One Million Sentences", "Five Kinds of Brand Songs", "Five Books of Brand Songs" and other books have included a lot of octagonal drum music. Book. However, the lyrics included in "The Sequel to Neon Dress" are all scripts sung by singing children during the Qianlong period. The works are different in taste and style from the lyrics sung by the children of Manchu banners.