Wangdexin
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Wangdexin, Male, Han, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Hangzhou Storytelling (Ⅴ-53). The tradition is documented in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Hangzhou Storytelling in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Long-form Hangzhou pinghua includes more than fifty traditional repertoires, among them Western Han, Eastern Han, Three Kingdoms, The Generations of the Yang Family, Water Margin, The Romance of Wu Song and The Biography of Yue Fei, which can be divided into the four great classes of history-telling, case stories, chivalric tales and myth. Its historical origins can be traced back to the ancient quyi forms of the Southern Song period in Lin'an (the ancient name of Hangzhou) such as shuohua, jiangshi and xiaoshuo. Hangzhou pinghua in its modern sense took shape gradually at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty; by the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing dynasty this folk quyi form had matured further, and a batch of famous artists appeared, including Wang Chunqiao, Xie Wanchun and Shen Pubao. In the early 1960s the artists adapted and performed more than twenty long-form modern repertoires, a useful attempt at the development of Hangzhou pinghua.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Wangdexin is anchored in the documented technical standards of Hangzhou Storytelling in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Within the documented technical tradition of Hangzhou Storytelling in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Hangzhou pinghua, also called 'Hangzhou dashu', is popular in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and the surrounding area. It is performed by a single speaker in the Hangzhou dialect; in the narration, simulated voiced speech can be inserted from time to time, so that narrative and comment alternate. The part that simulates in the first person the speech, tone and intonation of characters in the book is called 'bai'; the part that tells the progress of the story in the storyteller's voice and describes, analyses and appraises the characters, events and setting is called 'biao'. Narration also commonly makes use of the seven-character rhymed 'fuzan' (colloquially 'fuer') to strengthen the rhythm and heighten the atmosphere; the Marshal Hall Rhapsody, the Garden Rhapsody, the Armour Rhapsody and the Battle Rhapsody are all classic passages of this kind. The storytelling houses of Hangzhou pinghua are mostly set up in teahouses and on temple stages, and a single long book often takes several months to tell; artists emphasize 'weight on narration, skill in reasoning', and long-form repertoires are divided into four classes: history-telling, case stories, chivalric tales and myth. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The descriptive set pieces": Rhymed seven-character descriptive passages used to heighten rhythm and atmosphere on the stage. "Speech and narration": Speech impersonates the characters in the first person while narration describes and judges events as the storyteller. "Four categories of long books": More than fifty traditional long books fall into history, crime case, chivalric and mythic categories. "Song-dynasty storytelling": Its ancestry reaches back to the storytelling arts of Southern Song Lin'an and it took modern shape in the late Ming.
The descriptive set pieces
Rhymed seven-character descriptive passages used to heighten rhythm and atmosphere on the stage.
Speech and narration
Speech impersonates the characters in the first person while narration describes and judges events as the storyteller.
Four categories of long books
More than fifty traditional long books fall into history, crime case, chivalric and mythic categories.
Song-dynasty storytelling
Its ancestry reaches back to the storytelling arts of Southern Song Lin'an and it took modern shape in the late Ming.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Wangdexin was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Hangzhou Storytelling, with Hangzhou, Zhejiang as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Hangzhou Storytelling in Hangzhou, Zhejiang: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Hangzhou, Zhejiang as its declared area, and Hangzhou Hua Ji Art Theatre Yanyi Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Its historical origins can be traced back to the ancient quyi forms of the Southern Song period in Lin'an (the ancient name of Hangzhou) such as shuohua, jiangshi and xiaoshuo. Hangzhou pinghua in its modern sense took shape gradually at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty; by the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing dynasty this folk quyi form had matured further, and a batch of famous artists appeared, including Wang Chunqiao, Xie Wanchun and Shen Pubao.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li Zixin | Hangzhou, Zhejiang | 03-1172 | Same declared area |
| Wangdexin | Hangzhou, Zhejiang | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。