From early childhood, Gu Jian studied beiqu singing from his paternal aunt Gu Shanshan. Later, he took part in the literary gatherings of Gu Ying's Jade-Mountain Thatched-Cottage (Yushan caotang). Consequently, he derived the melody from text, and accorded Kunshan melodies to the Zhongzhou phonological system, instead of deriving the text from the melody, and according Kunshan melodies sung to Kunshan dialect phonology. Wei Liangfu's reform consisted of applying Gu Jian's performance style, namely unaccompanied Kunshan qiang melodies, to nanxi plays.