With a history of more than 100 years and another name Jingyin Drum, Jingyun Drum came into being in Beijing and Tianjin at the end of the Qing Dynasty and was quite popular at that time. One actor stands there soloing while beating the drum to control the speed and rhyme. It has five characteristics: a form suiting both refined and popular tastes, as style integrating gentleness into vigor, a manner combining talking with singing, a singing voice adopting one tune for many purposes, and a performance with vivid portraying tactics. The principal musical instruments are the Giant Sanxian and Sihu and Lute is used in some cases.
In the 1920s, the art form was at the apex of its development and enjoyed corresponding great popularity with Beijing Opera. There were three major schools represented by Liu Baoquan, Bai Yunpeng ad Zhang Xiaoxuan respectively, of whom, Liu Baoquan was the most accomplished one. He got a title Drum King and was well received for fifty years in the Opera and Art Field. Later on, the woman artist Luo Yusheng with the artistic name little Color Dancer appeared as a rising star in the drum talk circles, who created her own style after adopting Liu's and Bai's strong points, reigning the Tianjin Opera and Art Field for around forty years with the title Drum Queen.
The traditional programs of the Beijing Drum Talk include Single Broadsword for Banquet, Combat in Changsha and Bowang Heights. After new China was founded, the excellent programs reflecting modern life are listed as Huang Jiguang - a soldier fighting the Korean War, Liu Hulan - a girl who sacrificed her lift to struggle against the Japanese invaders, and newly edited historical programs like An Old Silly Removing the Mountains, Manjianghong, and Tasting the Bile and Lying on Firewood - a story about an ancient Chinese emperor.