Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Pinghua, Suzhou Tanci)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Pinghua, Suzhou Tanci)

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Item No.: 237

Project No.: V - 1

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Jiangsu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Protection unit: Suzhou Pingtan Troupe

Introduction to Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Pinghua, Suzhou Tanci)

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Suzhou Pinghua is a kind of Quyi storytelling form, which uses Suzhou dialect as the representative of Wu dialect. It is popular in southern Jiangsu and Northern Zhejiang, including most of the Wu dialect areas in Shanghai. It is usually called "Suzhou Pingtan" together with Suzhou Tanci. In popular areas, Suzhou Pinghua is commonly known as "Dashu", Suzhou Tanci is commonly known as "Xiaoshu", and it is generally known as "Shuoshu".

Suzhou Pinghua was formed in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty at the latest. In the middle of Qing Dynasty, it entered its heyday and established Guangyu society. In Xianfeng and Tongzhi years, Yao Shizhang and other famous artists appeared.

Suzhou Pinghua has a profound artistic tradition. In the performance, the narration is dominated by the third person, that is, the storyteller's tone, and the first person, that is, the language of the characters in the story, is inserted in the middle to imitate. The language and behavior of the characters in the imitative stories is called "playing a role", the third person's speech and performance is called "table", and the first person's speech and performance is called "Bai". Table and Bai are mainly composed of prose, and they can also be used as some verses for recitation performance, including ode, mouth, introduction and rhyme. Performance focuses on creating comic gimmicks. There is a saying that "gimmicks are the treasure of the book". Because of the different characteristics of the actors in the use of language and "play a role", they have different styles and schools. For example, it is called "Fangkou" if the performance is rigorous and the language expression is basically fixed; it is called "Huokou" if it adapts to different audiences and changes at any time; it is called "kuaikou" if the expression is sonorous and powerful, and on the contrary, it is called "slow mouth"; it is called "Pingshuo" if it is good at expressing and playing less roles. Its artistic development is rare in the form of storytelling of the same kind.

There are more than 50 traditional programs in Suzhou Pinghua, including "Western Han Dynasty", "Eastern Han Dynasty", "Three Kingdoms", "Sui and Tang Dynasties", "golden spear", "Yue Zhuan", "Yinglie" and so on, commonly known as "changrely book", also known as "Zhujia book"; chivalrous "Shuihu", "Qixia Wuyi", "xiaowuyi", "lvmudan", "Jintai Zhuan" and so on, commonly known as "short fight" In addition, there are stories about gods and monsters and official records, such as Fengshenbang, jigongzhuan, penggongan, shigongan, etc.

The program form of Suzhou Pinghua is mostly a long story, which is repeated day by day. It's about an hour and a half each time. Usually a book can be said for more than a month, and it can be as long as a year and a half. Its artistic expression is mainly single line narration, which echoes back and forth with the method of "saying the future first and mentioning the past again". At the same time, it creates suspense and attracts the audience with the method of constantly setting "key points". After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Suzhou Pinghua compiled and produced a number of new bibliographies, including "Jiangnan red", "railway guerrillas", "forest and snow", "liehuogang" and "armed forces behind the enemy", as well as some short and medium programs.

In recent years, the audience of Suzhou Pinghua has decreased sharply, the bookstores have shrunk, the artists have lost a lot, and the survival and development of Suzhou Pinghua is facing crisis, which urgently needs to be supported and protected.

Tanci in Suzhou is a kind of "Xiaoshu" folk art storytelling form performed in Suzhou dialect in the way of rap and singing. It originated and was popular in the southeast of Jiangsu, the north of Zhejiang, Shanghai and other Wu dialect areas with Suzhou as the center. It was formed in the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. As both Suzhou Pinghua and Suzhou Pinghua belong to the storytelling industry, they once had a common guild organization, and the folk habitually called them "Suzhou Pingtan" together with Suzhou Pinghua.

The performance of Tanci in Suzhou usually focuses on speaking and singing in the middle of speaking. When singing, they often use Sanxian or Pipa accompaniment, and when speaking, they also use Xingmu as props to beat the festival and attract the gods. The music tune used in singing is storytelling tune in banqiang style, which is the so-called "storytelling tune". Due to the formation of many music schools in the spread, "shudiao" is also known as "basic tune". In the early stage, most of the performances were "single stage" rap by a male artist plucking three strings. Later, there were "double stage" performances by two people and "three stages" performances by three people.

Suzhou Tanci has a profound artistic tradition and developed skills. Pay attention to "say gimmicks, play and sing". "Shuo" refers to narration; "gimmick" refers to "putting gimmick" that is to make people laugh; "Tan" refers to the use of Sanxian or Pipa for accompaniment, which can not only play and sing by themselves, but also accompany and contrast each other; "sing" refers to singing. Among them, the means of "saying" are very rich, including narration, endorsement, explanation and discussion. In the long-term rap performance, artists have formed different ways and techniques of expression, such as official expression, private expression, cooing expression, expression, lining expression and supporting expression. They can not only express the characters' ideological activities, inner monologue and dialogue with each other, but also narrate, explain and comment in the tone of the storyteller. The artists also learn from Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera, and use voice changes, body movements and facial expressions to "show up" and express their feelings and shape the characters. In the aesthetic pursuit, Suzhou Tanci stresses "reason, taste, interest, detail and skill". "The reason is the connection. Taste, Naisi also. Those who are interested in it will be relieved. Fine, elegant. As a skillful person, effort is also needed.

Suzhou Tanci programs are mainly long, and the traditional representative programs include "three smiles", "biography of wopao", "depicting Jinfeng", "biography of white snake", "Jade Dragonfly" and "Pearl Tower". Early famous artists include Wang Zhoushi, Chen Yuqian, Mao Changpei, Yu Xiushan, Lu Ruiting, Yao Yuzhang, Ma Rufei, Zhao Xiangzhou and Wang Shiquan. A large number of actresses appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Since the 1930s, with the rise of radio stations, Suzhou Tanci has entered its heyday with rich programs and various genres. According to the music style of singing, there are more than ten kinds of tunes, such as Shen (Jian'an) tune, Xue (Xiao Qing) tune, Wei (Yu Qing) tune, Xia (He Sheng) tune, Zhou (Yu Quan) tune, Xu (Yun Zhi) tune and Jiang (Yue Quan) tune.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Suzhou Tanci art has made a great leap through the artists' conscious innovation. New programs are constantly emerging, such as "white haired girl", "biography of new heroes", "King Li Chuang", "song of youth", "bitter cauliflower", "Red Rock", "wild fire fighting the ancient city", "red seed", "Jiangnan red", "seizing the seal", "Li shuangshuangshuang" and so on, while "xuanhui" in the middle and often independent performances include "laodibao", "tingtang seizing the son" and "xuandu" The main works are Qiuyu, Huating Pingli, Nuo Peng Liang Chuan, Antang recognizing his mother, we must repair the Huaihe River, heroes on the sea, green reeds, new Pipa line, blood injustice in white clothes, big foot queen, etc.

However, since the end of the 20th century, the audience of Tanci in Suzhou has decreased sharply, the bookstores have shrunk, and a large number of artists have been lost. The survival and development of Suzhou Tanci are facing crisis, which needs urgent rescue and support.

Chinese PinYin : Su Zhou Ping Dan Su Zhou Ping Hua Su Zhou Dan Ci