Wang Jide's Qulv in the Ming Dynasty said: "The name of Qufu's music is now called' font size'". It can be seen that the name "Qupai" has a long history. In ancient times, the creation of lyrics and songs was originally "choosing words and music". Later, beautiful tunes were gradually selected and preserved, and new words were filled in according to the rules of original words and tunes. Most of these preserved tunes still follow the names of the original songs, such as Zheyangliu, backyard flower, Yu Meiren and Lazy Thrushcross, thus becoming "Qupai". From Yuefu in Han and Wei Dynasties and tunes in Tang and Song Dynasties to Sanqu in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, ballads and ballads in Ming and Qing Dynasties, tunes have increased and decreased frequently. There are 685 kinds of qupai in Shen Jing's Jiugong Ci Pu in Ming Dynasty. In the 11th year of Qing Qianlong (1746), Jiugong Dacheng Nanbei Ci Pu was compiled. There were 2094 kinds of Nanbei Qupai (homophonic * * 4466 pieces), and each Qupai had its own proper name. Traditional operas formed before the Ming Dynasty, such as Kunshan Opera and Yiyang Opera, and operas developed from popular songs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, mostly take Qupai as the singing unit, which is generally called "Qupai-style" singing.

Qupai brand names come from different sources, such as Liangzhou Preface, Yizhou, Fuzhou Qu and Dongou Order. Some are named after the beat or rhythm characteristics of Qupai, such as [long beat], [short beat], [urgent board sequence] and [increasing gradually]. In addition, there are transliteration of other national languages, such as "Zhegu", "Moheluo", "Zhuolusu" and "Anahu", etc. The singer created his own brand name.

Qupai was originally acoustic music, and later it was played by instrumental music in traditional Chinese opera and then evolved into instrumental music.