In Beijing's Tianqiao Plaza at the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the Republican era, you could watch operas, peep shows or magic shows and listen to book critiques, stories told with musical accompaniment, and comic cross-talk. And you didn't have to pay a set ticket price, but rather gave as much as you liked.
清末民初，北平天橋廣場上，也是東處一個棚，西處一個圈，平劇、大鼓、魔術、相聲、評書、西洋鏡，雖然都要花錢才准參觀，但並無票價，隨人給錢，不分包廂，一律平等。