Crying One's Wares
The distinctive cries of the street peddlers in the capital, varying in tone and timbre, are taken up by popular songsters who adapt these melodies to their own entertaining lyrics. This practice has become very popular today.
Gao Cheng (Song Dynast):
The Origins of Things
Street cries in the capital city are often imitated in every street and home. These adaptations are, in effect, songs combining the vendors' melodious chants with dubbed-in lyrics.
Wu Zimu (Song Dynasty):
Records of a Pipe Dream