The history of beggars in ancient China began almost at the same time as that of civilized society. Although beggars are the poorest people in the society, they are not valued by the ruling classes in past dynasties, and are rarely recorded in official history, but there are many records about beggars in the private notes of literati or unofficial history. From these scattered but valuable records, people can see all kinds of complicated and colorful pictures of beggars, from emperors, literati, gifted scholars to ordinary people, liars and thieves, which can be found in these pictures, which is thought-provoking.

Beggars first appeared as monosyllabic words in ancient Chinese characters in China. "Begging" means begging and begging in gold characters, and it can also be used as an antonym to express giving. "Beggar", also known as "beggar", is often used as a sacrificial word in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, pointing to the gods to beg, such as "to worship the rain and be punished in the river", that is, to beg for the spirit from the river gods. Beggars can also give alms. For example, The Biography of the Western Regions in Han Dynasty records: "While carrying food and vegetables on the road, beggars give alms to the poor." Beggar has been used as a word since Han Dynasty, and its original meaning still retains two meanings: begging and charity. So before the Song Dynasty, the word beggar had not been used to address beggars.

So, before the Song Dynasty, what were the names of beggars? According to the records in Mencius, Lu Chunqiu, Liezi, Later Han Dynasty and Gui Yuan Cong Tan, there are names such as beggar, beggar, beggar and beggar. These appellations continued to be used after the Song Dynasty, and most of them continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.