The shouts of the hawkers in Old Beijing. The shouts of the hawkers in Old Beijing are clear, tactful, and ups and downs. Especially the shouts of seasonal goods are more pleasant to the ear. They have obvious characteristics of their own, that is, utilitarian. Musicality and timing.

The utilitarianism of old Beijing’s shouting is very clear, that is, whether it is selling goods or purchasing goods, the purpose is to attract customers to trade and make money for a living. For example, a watermelon seller yells: "A watermelon as big as a bucket will be as big as a boat!" He uses the exaggerated appearance of the watermelon to attract customers, hoping to sell his melons as soon as possible. Another example is the seller of snowflake cheese (homemade ice cream): "If you want to drink it, I will serve it, ice cream to relieve the heat and cool down!" and "Lingle snowflake cheese in Bing'er Town, you can drink it if you want." , boiled water, white sugar, osmanthus and more!” Such a cry captures the psychology of children and is very attractive to them.

The shouting in old Beijing pays more attention to rhythm, and the shouting usually has two or three syllables. For example: the seller of cut cakes shouts "Jujube - cut cake"; the seller of melon seeds shouts "five spices - melon seeds"; the seller of carp shouts "live fresh - carp"; the seller of sugar triangles shouts "triangle - fried burnt" "; the donkey meat seller shouted "It's delicious - donkey meat" and so on. There are also shouts that are rich in tonal changes, such as "Hard noodles──饽饽!" which is slower in the first half and more rapid in the second half. In addition, there are also shouts that use physical utensils (copper cups, bronze gongs, gongs, and iron to call the head). To attract customers, they use the sound made by tambourines, wooden clappers, bamboo boards, tambourines, rattles, flat drums, huqin, sanxian, etc.). For example: a fan-shaped arm carries a small box, and a string of small iron bells is tied with a string, and is shaken while walking, making a roaring sound; a charcoal seller shakes a drum by hand, making a booming sound; selling kerosene and sesame oil Those who sell peas, soy sauce, and vinegar beat a big wooden gong as a trumpet; those who sell pea yellow beat a gong with their hands and bang it all the way; those who sharpen scissors use steel to form five blades, which vibrate as they go, and there is also a handle. The one who blew it made a whining sound; the one who sold daily necessities specially beat a gourd and gourd; the one who sold iron pots simply beat the bottom of the pot with an iron rod, and the sound was like a drum to show that the goods were genuine; Moving a big iron clamp makes a buzzing sound, which is commonly known as "calling the head"; those who sell sour plum soup, glass powder, peach preserves, and dried fruits specialize in knocking two pots and bowls, commonly known as "knocking on ice caps"... Such utensils, etc. Instead of shouting, the rhythms are different, and the pitches are different. Sometimes several kinds of sounds are put together, which sounds really interesting.

The shopping in old Beijing also has a strong time and seasonality. For example, those selling sesame cakes and twists in the morning, dried fruits and rose dates at noon, and fried tofu and hard-noodle steamed buns in the evening. There are different shouts at different times of the day. For another example, we sell Yuanxiao in January, live shrimps in February, fresh eggs in March, apricots in April, rice dumplings in May, peaches in June, grapes and dates in July, soybean juice in August, and rice dumplings in May. Persimmons are sold in the month, cattails are sold in October, radish is sold in November, and Guandong sugar is sold in December. The seasons of the year have different cries. Of course, there are also some shouts, such as shaving heads, sharpening knives, sharpening scissors, and collecting rags, all year round.