Qu includes gikyoku (xiqu in Chinese)(China) that is used in plays as well as sankyoku (sanqu in Chinese) that is composed of only songs and has two kinds of style, shorei (xiaoling in Chinese) and tosu (taoshu in Chinese).
曲は戯曲(中国)といわれる劇中で使われるものと歌謡だけの散曲があり、形式的には小令と套数という二つのものがある。