Wu Chuanlai

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wu Chuanlai, Male, Han, from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Xuwenzhang Stories (Ⅰ-54). The tradition is documented in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Xuwenzhang Stories in Shaoxing, Zhejiang: The Xu Wenchang stories circulate with Shaoxing in Zhejiang as their centre through the Jiangnan area, closely bound up with the market life and dialect of Shaoxing; some three hundred pieces survive and they are widely current in Shaoxing and other Jiangnan areas. The Xu Wenchang stories are one of the important witty-figure stories of the Han people, arising in the mid and late Ming and continuing uninterrupted to the present. Set against the history of the mid and late Ming, the Xu Wenchang stories run from the tale of his youth, Taking an Object from the Pole, to the tale of his death, Turning a Thousand into Ten Thousand and a Treasure within Treasures.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1944, a native of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. A storyteller of the Xu Wenchang stories. Long steeped in the influence of the elders of his family, he became devoted to folk literature; what began in childhood as listening to stories developed into the telling of them, and by continually drawing nourishment from folk tradition he became able to tell nearly four hundred Xu Wenchang stories. Schools, communities, work units and gatherings of folk literary societies, wherever people congregate, have all served as venues for his storytelling. He tells stories mostly in dialect and colloquial idiom, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary; he sets store by exchange and interaction with his audience and is skilled at stirring their emotions, and his expressive features, consummate technique and natural, unrestrained emotional delivery are distinctive hallmarks of his art. He has edited and published twenty-eight collections of folk tales, including Xu Wenchang Gu Shi (The Stories of Xu Wenchang), and has published more than three hundred Shaoxing folktales. Since retiring he has devoted himself even more wholeheartedly to storytelling activities and has actively explored new channels for the transmission of stories. Within the documented technical tradition of Xuwenzhang Stories in Shaoxing, Zhejiang: As folk oral creation the Xu Wenchang stories are based on the anecdotes of the historical figure Xu Wei, courtesy name Wenchang, and take in a great many witty-figure stories; widely current in Shaoxing and other Jiangnan areas, they gradually grew fuller over time, and some three hundred pieces now survive. The legend is transmitted in varied ways and is rich in content, displaying in an all-round way Xu Wenchang's qualities of cleverness and talent, humour and wit, love of country and home, closeness to the common people and contempt for the powerful, with a rich Shaoxing character and local flavour. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Taking an Object from the Pole": A representative tale of Xu Wenchang's youth. "Turning a Thousand into Ten Thousand and a Treasure within Treasures": The tale of Xu Wenchang on his deathbed. "Stories of Contempt for the Powerful": Stories showing Xu Wenchang's contempt for the powerful.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of the Xuwenzhang Stories, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He adapted stories such as Xu Wenchang Yin Xiao (Xu Wenchang Draws Laughter) and Dou Lai Kan (Everyone Come and See) into lianhualao (lotus-petal ballad) pieces and trained a group of young disciples.

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. Wu Chuanlai · National Representative Bearer Archive