Xing Yanchun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Born into a Suzhou pingtan family, he began studying the art in 1962 under his father Xing Ruiting, and devoted himself to the study of writing pingtan librettos. Within the regional tradition and school record of Suzhou Pingtan in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Because performers differ in their use of language and in such matters as 'qi juese', different styles and schools have formed. Suzhou Tanci is a form of 'xiao shu' storytelling in the quyi tradition, performed in the Suzhou dialect in an alternation of speech and song. It originated in and remains popular in the Wu-speaking areas of southeastern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang and Shanghai, centred on Suzhou, and took shape roughly in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Because many musical schools grew up in the course of transmission, the 'shu diao' is also called the 'basic tune'. Suzhou Pinghua had already taken shape no later than the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It entered its heyday in the mid-Qing period, when the guild organization known as the Guangyu Society was established. Famous performers of the early period included, from the Qing dynasty, Wang Zhoushi, Chen Yuqian, Mao Changpei, Yu Xiushan, Lu Ruiting, Yao Yuzhang, Ma Rufei, Zhao Xiangzhou and Wang Shiquan. A large number of female performers appeared in the late Qing and the early Republican period. From the 1930s onward, with the rise of radio broadcasting, Suzhou Tanci entered a golden age. Its repertoire became rich and its schools proliferated. Distinguished by the musical style of singing, there were more than ten of them, including the Shen (Jian'an) school, the Xue (Xiaoqing) school, the Wei (Yuqing) school, the Xia (Hesheng) school, the Zhou (Yuquan) school, the Xu (Yunzhi) school and the Jiang (Yuequan) school. Since the late twentieth century, however, audiences for Suzhou Tanci have fallen off sharply, storytelling houses have contracted, large numbers of performers have dispersed, and the survival and development of the art face a crisis, making urgent rescue and support necessary.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1944 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. A national first-class actor. After completing his training he performed in partnership with his younger sister Xing Yanzhi, touring Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, constantly seeking innovation and honing his skills until he gradually formed a style of his own. His performances are known for vivid characterization, precise language and a blend of gravity and humour; he is especially accomplished in the Yan and Xue tunes, and is a specialist actor who combines performance, teaching and libretto writing. His representative work is Yang Naiwu (The Case of Yang Naiwu). From 1985 he taught at the Suzhou Pingtan School, where he compiled more than ten school-based textbooks; his students are now to be found in pingtan companies throughout Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Within the documented technical tradition of Suzhou Pingtan in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Suzhou Pinghua is a form of quyi storytelling performed by unaccompanied oral delivery in the Wu dialect represented by Suzhou dialect. It is popular in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, and in the Wu-speaking areas covering most of Shanghai, and is usually referred to together with Suzhou Tanci as 'Suzhou Pingtan'. In the regions where it is popular, Suzhou Pinghua is colloquially called 'da shu' (big book), Suzhou Tanci is called 'xiao shu' (small book), and the two together are called 'shuoshu' (storytelling). By the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns, famous masters such as Yao Shizhang had appeared, performing 'Water Margin'. The artistic tradition of Suzhou Pinghua is exceedingly deep. In performance the narration is governed by the voice of the third person, that is, the storyteller, into which is inserted the speech of the first person, that is, the characters in the story, imitating their words and actions. Imitating the speech and deportment of characters in the story is called 'qi juese' (raising a role); third-person narration is called 'biao', and first-person narration is called 'bai'. Biao and bai consist mainly of prose, but also include some versified passages used for chanting, among them fu zan (panegyric), gua kou, yinzi and yun bai. Performance places great emphasis on creating comic effects, hence the saying that 'the xue is the treasure of the book'. When the narration is rigorous and the wording basically fixed, it is called 'fangkou'; when the performer adapts to circumstances, flowers of speech spring from the tongue and improvisation is skilful, changing at will to suit different audiences, it is called 'huokou'; when the narration rolls out like strung pearls, ringing and powerful, it is called 'kuaikou', and the opposite is 'mankou'; when narration is the chief strength and few roles are raised, it is called 'pingshuo'. The sophistication of its art is rarely found among comparable forms of storytelling. There are some fifty or more traditional programs in Suzhou Pinghua. These include historical narratives such as 'The Western Han', 'The Eastern Han', 'The Three Kingdoms', 'Sui and Tang', 'The Golden Spear', 'The Biography of Yue Fei' and 'Heroic Martyrs', popularly called 'chang kao shu' (long-armour books) and also 'zhuojia shu' (armoured books); chivalrous works such as 'Water Margin', 'The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants', 'The Five Lesser Gallants', 'The Green Peony' and 'The Biography of the Golden Terrace', popularly called 'duanda shu' (short-fight books); and also supernatural tales and case-of-justice books such as 'Investiture of the Gods', 'The Biography of Ji Gong', 'The Case of Judge Peng' and 'The Case of Judge Shi'. The program forms of Suzhou Pinghua belong mainly to long-form stories, told chapter by chapter in daily instalments. Usually one session is performed a day, and each session lasts about an hour and a half. As a rule a single work can be told over for more than a month, and the longest can run to a year and a half or more. Its artistic expression relies mainly on a single line of sequential narration, using the method of 'speaking of the future first and raising the past again' to achieve links between what comes before and what follows, while constantly setting up 'guanzi' (pauses) to create suspense and hold the audience. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a new body of titles was written and staged for Suzhou Pinghua, important ones including 'Jiangnan Red', 'Railway Guerrillas', 'Tracks in the Snowy Forest', 'Tough Steel' and 'The Armed Detachment Behind the Enemy Lines'; medium-length and short pieces also appeared. Because it belongs to the same storytelling trade as Suzhou Pinghua and once shared the same guild organization, folk custom has grown up of calling the two together 'Suzhou Pingtan'. The performance of Suzhou Tanci is normally centred on speech, with singing interspersed. While singing it is usually accompanied by the sanxian or the pipa; during narration there are also cases where the xingmu (awakening block) is used as a prop to beat time and gather the spirit. The melodic material used in singing is the banqiang (metrical pattern) system of storytelling tunes, that is, the so-called 'shu diao' (book tune). Early performances were mostly 'dan dang', in which a single male performer plucked the sanxian and sang solo; later there appeared 'shuang dang', performed by two partners, and 'san ge dang', performed by three partners. The artistic tradition of Suzhou Tanci is exceedingly deep and its technique highly developed. It lays stress on 'shuo, xue, tan, chang', that is, narration, comic effect, string playing and singing. 'Shuo' means narration; 'xue' means 'fang xue', provoking laughter; 'tan' means using the sanxian or the pipa for accompaniment, either self-accompanied while singing or mutually accompanying and supporting one another; 'chang' means singing. Within these, the means of 'shuo' are extremely rich: there is narration, there is impersonation, and there is explanation and commentary. Through long practice in narration and singing, performers have formed devices and techniques of delivery with differing functions, such as guan bai, si bai, gu bai, biao bai, chen bai and tuo bai. These can express the mental activity of characters, their inner monologues and their mutual dialogue, and can also narrate, explain and appraise in the voice of the storyteller. Performers also borrow the speech-acting techniques of Kunqu opera and Beijing opera, using changes of voice timbre together with bodily movement and facial expression to 'manifest the speaker in the narration', to convey feeling and to shape characters. In its aesthetic pursuit Suzhou Tanci values 'li, wei, qu, xi, ji'. 'Li' means coherence. 'Wei' means the pleasure of prolonged reflection. 'Qu' means the joy of bringing smiles. 'Xi' means elegance. 'Ji' means craftsmanship. The repertoire of Suzhou Tanci consists mainly of long works, with several dozen traditional representative titles such as 'Three Smiles', 'The Japanese Robe', 'The Gilded Phoenix', 'The White Snake', 'The Jade Dragonfly' and 'The Pearl Tower'. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the art of Suzhou Tanci, following the performers' conscious efforts to reform the old and create the new, achieved a major leap forward. New programs emerged continuously. Long works include 'The White-Haired Girl', 'Heroes and Heroines of the New Era', 'The Rebel King Li', 'Song of Youth', 'Bitter Vegetable Flowers', 'Red Rock', 'Fighting the Ancient City in Wildfire and Spring Wind', 'The Red Seed', 'Jiangnan Red', 'Seizing the Seal' and 'Li Shuangshuang'; medium-length works and 'xuan hui' (selected episodes) able to be performed independently include 'The Old Guardian', 'Seizing the Child in the Hall', 'Praying for Rain at the Xuandu Temple', 'Reasoning the Case in the Flower Hall', 'Striking the Grain Boat in Anger', 'Recognizing the Mother in the Nunnery', 'We Must Definitely Repair the Huai River', 'Heroes at Sea', 'The Green Reeds', 'The New Pipa Ballad', 'The Bloody Grievance of the White-Robed' and 'The Big-Footed Empress'. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Guangyu Society": The guild founded in Suzhou in the mid-Qing that governed the storytelling trade, later splitting into bodies such as the Runyu Society. "Solo, duo and trio formats": The three line-ups of Suzhou tanci: a solo performer with sanxian, a pair on sanxian and pipa, and a trio. "Shuo, xue, tan, chang": The four skills of tanci: narration, joking, plucked accompaniment and singing, with narration itself divided into report, impersonation, comment and argument. "Fangkou, huokou and related styles": The basic storytelling manners of Suzhou pinghua: fixed phrasing, improvised phrasing, rapid-fire delivery, slow delivery and narration-centred delivery.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou storytelling and Suzhou balladry), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He received the 11th China Quyi Peony Award, presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Quyi Artists Association.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Xing Yanchun · National Representative Bearer Archive