Xuzhanggen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

His stage name is Xu Xiao'an; he was born into a family of Xiaorehun performers, his father An Zhongwen and his uncle An Yonglin both being celebrated Hangzhou Xiaorehun masters. Within the regional tradition and school record of Xiaorehun in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Xiao Rehun is a comic narrative form of quyi that is widely popular in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area; it is also called "xiao luo shu" (small-gong storytelling) and is popularly known as "the pear-candy seller". It originated in the "shuo chaobao" (newspaper recitation) performed on the streets of Hangzhou in the late Qing dynasty. "Chaobao" was a local tabloid newspaper in Hangzhou at the time. Because its print quality was poor, newspaper vendors, in order to attract customers, would strike a small gong while reciting the main news items printed on the paper; this was called "shuo chaobao". Later the performers changed "shuo chaobao" into "shuo xinwen, chang chaobao" (telling the news, singing the paper), writing and performing their own material. In 1905, Du Baolin applied the form of reciting and singing the chaobao to the selling of pear candy (ligaotang). He changed the old way candy vendors made a living — merely singing a little tune or telling a small joke — and turned the content of the recitation and singing from news items and everyday anecdotes into programs with simple storylines, character personalities and conflict. In the early years of the Republic of China, Hangzhou's Gaishijie Amusement Hall was founded, and Du Baolin was invited to go there and perform. In 1927, Du Baolin's students Jiang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele entered Shanghai and performed Xiao Rehun programs such as "Fruit Jokes", receiving enthusiastic welcome from the audience.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1962 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Raised in this family tradition, he learned Xiaorehun singing and composition from his father from an early age. At seventeen he joined the quyi troupe of the Hangzhou Workers' Cultural Palace and began performing Xiaorehun on stage. His representative pieces include Caichang Xinmao (A New Look for the Market), Shuiguo Zhaoqin (The Fruit Takes a Spouse), Hangzhou Hao Difang (Hangzhou Is a Fine Place) and Shuo Hao Hangzhou Hua (Speaking Hangzhou Dialect Well). Within the documented technical tradition of Xiaorehun in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Because the form is comic and humorous, the content witty, the lyrics easy to understand, and the vocal style taken from folk songs and ditties familiar to ordinary people, it is deeply popular. Because most of the programs express dissatisfaction with real life, they repeatedly drew constables to drive them away; to escape being held accountable, the form was given the name "Xiao Rehun", meaning the delirious nonsense the performers themselves talk. The performance form settled on one person beating a small gong while reciting and singing, singing as the main element and spoken narrative as the auxiliary. In order to enrich the performance programs and the range of performance technique, he transplanted programs from Hangzhou's neighbouring form of "gebi xi" (partition drama) such as "Xiaoshan People Worship the Door Gods", and further absorbed from gebi xi the performance techniques of "xue xiangtan" (learning the local dialect of each place) and "yin jiao" (imitating sounds, imitating the calls of a hundred kinds of bird); he himself called his recitative form "awakening-the-world talk and laughter", but Hangzhou people still called it Xiao Rehun. Xiao Rehun was not only deeply popular in itself but also exerted an influence on the formation and development of sister art forms. After that, many of the "maikou" (hawking segment) programs in Xiao Rehun were gradually transplanted or adapted into dujiao xi (single-actor) programs, such as "Qinghe Bridge". Later, huaji xi (comic drama), which developed on the basis of Shanghai dujiao xi, also transplanted and adapted Xiao Rehun programs such as "Burning the Tofu Shop". Later still, because of the small gong struck as accompaniment during a Xiao Rehun performance, people came to call it "xiao luo shu" (small-gong storytelling). Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "One man, one gong": The settled performance form is a single player striking a small gong, singing mainly and speaking in support, hence the name little-gong book. "Du Baolin and the pear syrup candy": In 1905 Du Baolin moved his newspaper patter onto the pear-syrup candy pitch, turning it into story-telling with characters and conflict. "Borrowings from the neighbouring play": Items such as The Xiaoshan Man Worships the Door God were transplanted from Hangzhou'sGeBiXi, along with its dialect mimicry and birdsong imitations. "Jiang and Bao go to Shanghai": In 1927 Du's pupils Jiang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele brought numbers such as The Fruit Joke to Shanghai to great acclaim.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Xiaorehun, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has performed many times within and beyond the province and has won awards.

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. Xuzhanggen · National Representative Bearer Archive