Haozi, Work Songs have long histories. They appeared and were sung in labor; therefore their rhythms are closely connected with labor rhythms. They are classified by different work places into the following kinds such as forest work songs, agricultural work songs, boatman work songs, fisherman work songs, construction work songs, transportation work songs, workshop work songs, etc.. They are characterized by their strong rhythms, and the singing form of a solo leading singer and a group of responding singers, for example, boatman work songs on the Yellwo River, Chuanjiang Haozi work songs, on the Three Gorges, forest work songs in northeast China, and rice-seeding transplanting work songs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Work songs of the minorities are classified by ways of working. For instance, work songs for people living in oasis such as "Weed-pulling Song of Gong and Drum" of Tujia ethnic group, "Flailing Song" and "Ox-Driving Songs" of Qiang ethnic group and in grain threshing; those for people living in coastal areas and forestry areas such as  "Sailing to the South Sea" of Man ethnic group, "Going to the sea" of Gin ethnic group; those for people working in workshops such as "Rice Pounding" and "Spinning Wheel" of Korean ethnic group. Their music singing forms are to some extent different from work songs, and have stronger melodic tunes.