In the canonical system as a whole, one-third of the music is from old versions. These have been acquired from 1950s and 1960s mainland China. Liu Shulan, an opera scholar from Beijing who also produces recordings, describes them this way: "These recordings carry on a historical tradition which goes back to what was received from the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing."
在整個經典系列中，老版本錄音佔了三分之一，這些取自於大陸五、六○年代，是北京戲曲學者兼錄音導演劉書蘭所形容，「上承明末清初，足以賡續歷史傳統的錄音」。