yangzhou storytelling

yangzhou storytelling

Yangzhou Dialect Commentary is a kind of folk art storytelling in Yangzhou dialect, which was developed in the early Qing Dynasty and popular in northern Jiangsu and Zhenjiang, Nanjing and Shanghai.

Yangzhou's commentary performances are rich in details, vivid in characters and interesting in language. In art, they are good at meticulous description, rigorous structure, echoes at the beginning and end, complicated and undisciplined ideas. At the same time, artists pay great attention to rendering the local scenery of Yangzhou in their creation and performance, which has strong local color.

On May 20, 2006, Yangzhou Commentary was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage catalogues, numbered V-2.

Historical Evolution

Yangzhou commentary rose in the early Qing Dynasty, and soon formed a prosperous situation of "Shuci everywhere says Sui and Tang Dynasty, heroes on each side". There were 10 books such as "Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and so on. There were more than 20 famous storytellers with outstanding skills.

During the reign of Qianlong (1736-1796), some artists enriched traditional programs according to their own life experiences, while others created new books.

In 1853, Yangzhou became a military outpost in the north of the Yangtze River. Yangzhou's commentary artists evaded the war for their livelihood with the local rich merchants and gentry. They moved east to Taizhou and Dongtai to perform. Some of them made a living in Gaoyou and Yancheng in the Lixia River area. Due to the enlargement of performing area, the number of artists increased from dozens to more than 200 when they were in Yangzhou. Yangzhou commentary expanded its influence in northern Jiangsu.

After three years of Tongzhi (1864), Yangzhou's economy recovered and its society became stable. A group of artists who earned a living in Lixia River returned to Yangzhou after fierce competition. Yangzhou's commentary appeared a new prosperous situation.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the northern Jiangsu Canal was blocked, the Jiangnan Railway was opened to traffic, and Yangzhou commentary developed to the south of the Yangtze River, which promoted the ranks of commentary artists to increase again. According to the old artists'recollections, there were about 300 artists who talked in different places at that time, of whom nearly 100 only talked about "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin".

After the Revolution of 1911, some famous commentators in Yangzhou opened up to Nanjing, Shanghai and the south of the Yangtze River. Zhenjiang, which is separated by one river, has the same voice and habits because of its convenient transportation, and later became the political center of the whole province. Many commentators and artists competed to perform there, gathering famous experts for a time, and became a great success. The second base of state commentary.

In the winter of the Republic of China (1937), after the fall of Yangzhou, some famous critics of Yangzhou commentary died one after another, some of them went to Shanghai to make a living, and some of them changed their jobs. In Yangzhou, the number of artists who perform has declined, and the art of calligraphy is mediocre, coupled with the economic depression, the industry has withered, the audience has no intention to listen to books, and the bookstore has closed down one after another.

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, there was no fundamental improvement. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the original artist troop of 200 or 300 people, including only 40 people scattered everywhere, was lost one after another in some traditional bibliographies, such as Flying Hou Biography, Yangzhou Dialect, Eastern Han Dynasty and Flying Dragon Biography.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou commentary received the attention and support of the people's government, and artists were organized one after another.

In 1956, when the performers were registered, the number of Yangzhou commentary artists distributed in Nanjing, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Taizhou, Haian, Dongtai, Nantong, Huai'an and Shanghai increased to 87. After registration, the local Quyi troupes with different kinds of Yangzhou dialect-commenting music have been established successively, recruiting students and imparting art, so that the Yangzhou dialect-commenting art has been successively established.

Artistic Characteristics

Cultural characteristics

The commentary of Yangzhou can be divided into "square mouth" and "round mouth". Square spoken sentences are neat and rhythmic. Round mouth is similar to life language. It is flexible and can be used in both square mouth and round mouth. Its acting range is small, usually the body does not deviate from the corner of the desk, both feet do not reveal the desk circumference, combined with the table, to meet the audience's auditory needs, but also to give visual satisfaction. Through the development and creation of several generations of artists, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, an artistic style with the basic characteristics of giving full play to the language function, exquisite expression, vivid action and deliberate portrayal of characters was formed. In describing the local scene at that time, exposing the contradictions and conflicts of events, depicting the images and inner world of various characters in the book, etc., can be meticulous and meticulous, so that the audience can see their people, hear their voices, and be immersed in the scene. For the characters in the book, he is especially good at portraying and portraying all kinds of local characters in the book, such as government servants, bookmen, maids, maidservants, traffickers, pawns, waiters and butchers, so as to make them into three parts of the wood. As a foil to the environment in the book, a large number of buildings and folk customs were inserted into Yangzhou at that time, which endowed the bibliographic contents with local and contemporary characteristics. This expressive Yangzhou dialect, through oral expression to narrate stories, shape characters, depict scenery, express feelings of artists collectively known as "table", there is "table is book treasure" said. On the premise of this basic artistic style, artists also create their own artistic characteristics according to their artistic accomplishment, knowledge, experience and body quality. At the same time, the use of gestures, body, footwork, eyes, facial expressions to demonstrate the "virtual spirit"; the description of the characters emphasize the combination of expression and emotion, not the pursuit of shape.

artistic characteristics

The most distinctive feature of Yangzhou's commentary is its meticulous expression and subtle description, which reflects the merits of the Southern School's storytelling and contrasts sharply with the roughness and conciseness of the Northern School's storytelling. It is expressed in Yangzhou dialect, with Zhongzhou rhyme and dialectal dialect as its roles, expressing ideas with hands, eyes, bodies and steps. It pays attention to depicting characters'personality and shaping artistic images in contradictions and conflicts. It pays attention to narrative tables, narrative tables, narrative tables, narrative tables, narrative tables, atmosphere tables, freehand tables, narrative tables, amusing tables, commentary tables and so on. A variety of expression techniques. As the artist "Tao Jing" said: "Speaking to reason, reason to say things, say things to say people, say people to say heart." The structure of Yangzhou's commentary is almost all in the form of a character string, line to the end in the book, which is different from that of the North School's storytellers in the form of subject-guest cooperation, single-stroke accumulation and double-line development of events, which is also a major feature of it. Clever use of customary details of life to enrich Book sentiment has been pursued in all places, but especially in Yangzhou, which is also its characteristic.

Performing Style

Most of Yangzhou's comments are performed by one person, sitting and talking but not singing. Its features are exquisite, rigorous, profound and realistic. Its teaching methods are divided into family transmission and teacher inheritance, both of which adopt the old method of oral and heart-to-heart teaching.

Art School

The most influential speakers of Three Kingdoms were Li Guohui and Lan Yuchun in the reign of Xianfeng and Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty. They were patriarchal clans of later generations and were named "Li School" and "Lan School". Eight disciples handed down by Li Guohui were called "Eight Juns". Among them, Kang Guohua was known as "Living Confucius Ming" because of his outstanding role in speaking Confucius Ming. The style of speaking is called "Kang School". Deng Guangdou, a famous artist who spoke about Water Margin, has won the reputation of "jumping into the Water Margin" for his wonderful expression and action. Later, artist Wang Shaotang inherited his predecessor's Shuihu, and developed four "ten chapters" including Songjiang, Wusong, Shixiu and Lu Junyi, which are self-contained and known as "Wang School's Shuihu".

Classic repertoire

The traditional programs of Yangzhou dialogues commentary are divided into three categories, including the lectures on historical romances, such as Eastern Han Dynasty, Western Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Water Margin, Yue Zhuan, etc., the chivalrous official cases of "Green Peony", "Baqiaozhu", "Jiulian Lantern" and "Qingfeng Gate"; the mythological monsters of "Fengshenbang", "Journey to the West" and "Jigong Zhuan". 》 Wait.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wang Shaotang's novel Water Margin, namely Songjiang, Wusong, Shixiu and Lu Junyi, has been published in four "ten chapters". At the same time, there have also been "Jingang in Flaming Fire", "Lin Haixueyuan", "Hongyan" and "Xia Yun", which are based on the novel. Some long and short bibliographies such as Guangling Smoking Ban Ji.

Epidemic areas

Yangzhou commentary is popular in northern Jiangsu and Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places.

Inheritance and Protection

Current situation of circulation

With the gradual development of economy, Yangzhou commentary has faced unprecedented difficulties. As of May 2006, the performance team of Yangzhou commentary has shrunk, the audience is aging, the bookstore is outdated, and there are few successors. The survival and development of Yangzhou commentary have been challenged seriously and need to be effectively protected.

protective measures

In 2011, Yangzhou Quyi Research Institute, which was established by Yangzhou Quyi Troupe, has opened bookstores in 13 communities in Yangzhou and in Zhenjiang, Huai'an and other places as of November 2014 in order to encourage actors to actively inherit the art of commentary and constantly expand new bookstores.

In 2014, the Yangzhou Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publishing Bureau strengthened the protection of non-heritage, and planned to record and record the famous writings and titles of famous experts, so as to protect the national non-material commentary of Yangzhou for cultural heritage more effectively.

representative figure

Wang Shaotang (1889-1968), a commentary artist. Ming Dezhuang, also known as Xihe, has few artistic names. Jiangdu was born in Anle Lane, Yangzhou. Wang Shaotang studied art with his father at the age of seven, performed on stage at the age of nine, and officially performed at the age of twelve. In his long-term artistic practice, he not only inherited his father's calligraphy, but also inherited his uncle's advantages, and also took in the advantages of his colleagues. Firstly, on the basis of the art of family biography, the story of Wusong in Shuihu, a famous classical Chinese literary work, was perfected into ten chapters, and then the story of Songjiang in Shuihu, which was also made into ten chapters, was arranged and published in the 1950s. At the same time, he compiled the stories of Shixiu and Lu Junyi in Shuihu into Yangzhou's commentary and speech, thus making Wusong, Songjiang, Shixiu and Lu Junyi four "ten chapters" and becoming the representative works of Yangzhou's commentary art represented by him, known as "The Water Margin of Wang School"

Selected as a non-survivor

On May 20, 2006, Yangzhou Commentary was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage catalogues, numbered V-2.

The Value of Quyi

The value of Yangzhou's commentary lies mainly in its historicity, which is the living fossil of Chinese traditional storytelling art; its literariness, which is the excellent model of national folk oral literature; and its artistry, which is the language crystallization extracted and processed from the language of daily life. It is precisely because of its high historical, literary and artistic value that many researchers in Russia, Denmark, Japan and other countries have studied Yangzhou dialect.

Honorary recognition

On October 7, 2018, the 10th China Quyi Peony Award Press Conference was held in Yangzhou. The list of the peony award winners was unveiled for the first time. The mid-part of Yangzhou commentary "The Legend of Yushanzi" won the program award.