Osbert Stevell, an English poet who lived in Beijing in the 1920s, wrote The Sound and Color of Beijing, describing all kinds of acoustics made by street vendors to attract customers at that time as street bands, and listing wind music, strings and percussion instruments. He especially likes listening to the iron spiral in the barber's hand. When the iron plate is pulled out from the middle, it will make a metallic sound and tremble slightly, which is considered to be very similar to the fixed tuning fork used by western musicians. In addition, the drum in the hand of the cloth dealer and the small drum played by the buyer of jewelry and jade also gave him pleasure. Of course, there are trombones for grinding scissors and knives. To his surprise, each musical instrument represents a profession. A housewife sitting at home must know what vendors are on the street. Recently, Beijing People's Broadcasting Station also played Aaron Afsha Lomov's symphonic poem with the theme of Beijing Hutong audio, which was very tasty.

Due to the language barrier, foreigners can only enjoy instrumental music. In fact, what is more worth mentioning is the vocal part-that is, the hawking of various vendors on the streets of Beijing.

Anyone who has heard the cross talk "Selling Cloth Head" or "Changing Trades" will inevitably admire the skills of those peddlers. He has a loud voice, a crisp voice, a glib tongue and a clear articulation. He also knows how to make up words on the spot. He has a quick brain and can improvise.

When I was a child, no matter whether it was windy or rainy all the year round, the hawking in the alley never stopped from morning till night.

Selling breakfast in the early morning: rice porridge, fried fruit (ghost). Then there are vegetable sellers and flower sellers. They pay attention to singing all the goods on the pickaxe and attract customers with good voices. It's even more lively during the day, just like taking apart the department store and the repair industry and showing it in front of your house. In the evening, Hawking is also wonderful.

"Hey, wonton-open the pot!" This is a special dinner for those who burn the midnight oil or gamblers, just like jiaozi in the south. In Beijing, there is a saying that "it's hot to shave your head and carry your load." In fact, it is the same to pick a load of wonton. At one end is a string of small drawers containing various semi-finished raw materials: skins, stuffing and condiments, and at the other end is a soup pot. As soon as the fire door was hit, the water in the pot boiled. Wonton is not only cooked with noodles, but also pays attention to eating and packaging. Pay attention to the thin skin and big stuffing.

As far as hawking is concerned, I prefer to sell hard cakes: the voice is thick and the words are simple, that is to say, "hard cakes", and I announce what I am selling without boasting anything at all.

But those who spend the night are not all vegetable sellers, but also chatterboxes. In cold weather, I took a heavy phonograph and half a box of records. Most of the songs are Peking Opera or drum sets. I also heard a movie called "Foreigners Ha ha laugh", which laughed from beginning to end. I thought to myself, I'm so tired! I hate the logo of Victory Company most: a dog crouched in front of the loudspeaker with its ears sticking out to listen to records. That's a curse.

At that time, blind people who knocked on cymbals were often seen at night, which probably belonged to percussion. "calculate the spirit!" I thought to myself, "Why don't you do the math yourself first!" "There are beggars. I still remember how creepy a beggar is. He almost always uses vibrato. First, raise your voice and shout "Yes, sir-too (alas) too". After a while, you seem to be out of breath with hunger. Then he shouted in a low voice, "There are leftovers-leftovers-give me something to eat! "

The goods sold in the four seasons are naturally different. When spring comes, it's time to sell goldfish of all sizes. I have the most affection for selling toad bones (unformed young frogs). First, if you can afford it, you will spend a dozen to make money. Second, you can still swallow it after playing enough. I've been thinking, why don't they turn into frogs in my stomach! In summer, ice cream made of watermelon and crushed ice is on the market. It's time to sell "tree-cooked begonia" in autumn. There are two kinds of persimmons: simple and complex. Jane only said "big persimmon with honey". Actually, it's enough. But at that time, vendors wanted to show off their voices, so some persimmon sellers not only made up lively words, but also showed off their singing skills. At least you have to talk and sing like in the opera. In winter, "gourd-just dipped" appeared. Beijing at that time was much colder than it is now. Nose and tears always freeze into ice at school. As long as you have money in your pocket, you must buy a piece when you hear "baked sweet potato is really spicy". You can put hot sweet potatoes in your sleeves to keep warm all the way, or you can take them out to chew at school.

Hawking is actually a kind of oral advertisement, so we need to attract customers in another way. For example, if you sell a toy made of straw, you will shout "the little thing is alive." Some shouted to tell you about the production process, such as a dish sold in the city, which was very comprehensive: "Steaming and frying, oil is useless. Here comes the bag of noodles, and the zucchini stuffing is steamed and fried. " There are also relatively simple ones, such as "stewing food and frying tofu". Some use the things in A to describe the things in B, such as "chestnut-flavored sweet potato" or "radish is better than pear". Hulu-Ice Tower is concise and vivid, and two words can describe the glittering and lovely gourd (whether it is hawthorn, water chestnut or yam bean). Hawthorn sellers rely on drama to attract people. "There are only two things left." In fact, he was covered with purple fruits strung together with ropes.

Some vendors shouted loudly, while others were low and deep. I'm afraid to listen to the ups and downs. Maybe it's because when I was a child, people told me that lotus leaf cakes were "flowers" and abducted children. I'm particularly scared. He shouted "a bag of sugar" first, and then lowered it by at least eight degrees to say "lotus leaf cake" There is also a seller of buckwheat skin. Once he gave a "yo" behind me, which scared me. When I stood up, he sang Buckwheat Pierre in a low bass voice.

What stands out is the rhyming propaganda. The fried food seller I wrote in the novel Deng Shandong does exist. As for his beating students, I made it up. A radish seller shouted, "It's not chaff or spicy. Two bundles of radishes are as big as one bundle. " "Big" is a copper coin. Some beggars even made up an allegro glibly: "The old lady (that) is really good, and a cake can't eat her. Look in the east room (then) look in the west room, there is no bowl of rice. "

Now there is only one name left in Beijing, that is, "popsicle-three points." The tone seems to have dropped from five to three. It's actually only a third. It can be seen that this dramatic Hawking art has not been lost.