Basic content of Zhashui Fishing Drum

The content of fishing drum repertoire is generally divided into three categories. One is the preaching category: without storyline, ethics and morals such as loyalty, filial piety, justice, three cardinal principles and five constant principles are compiled into lyrics and raps to persuade and educate the world. The second category is stories: mostly traditional repertoire, including fairy tales, folklore, social cases, family anecdotes, etc. The third one is about praising trivial things and fables and jokes. Such as "The Snipe and the Clam Struggle", "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain", etc. There are two forms: one is short stories, mostly folk songs and minor tunes are sung, the content is single, and the plot is simple; the other is medium and long plays, which are mostly folk tales, legends, historical themes, etc.

The traditional repertoire of the Fishing Drum Singing Book is quite rich, including heroic legends of great events. For example, the classic repertoire includes "Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", "General of the Yang Family", "The Biography of Yue Fei", "Xue Rengui's Conquest of the East", etc., contains royal anecdotes from past dynasties, folk unofficial histories, and a large number of rap songs reflecting folk grievances and unjust cases. It was once very popular and was called: "Unjust Case Drama". There are also "acid" scripts that directly and boldly describe the lingering love between men and women.

There are three basic ways of singing Yugu: one is singing only, the other is speaking and singing, and the third is a combination of speaking, singing and performance.