Suzhou Pingtan
01 · Historical Records
Suzhou Pinghua originates in the storytelling arts of the Song dynasty; it is a verbal art for telling stories in the Suzhou dialect.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Suzhou Pinghua is widely popular in the Wu-speaking areas of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, and together with Suzhou Tanci is called 'pingtan'. Suzhou Pinghua is da shu (big book), Suzhou Tanci is xiao shu (small book); together they are called 'shuoshu' (storytelling). Its language consists of two parts, the language of the first person, that is, the storyteller, and the language of the third person, that is, the characters in the story, with the former predominating. This constitutes a qualitative difference from the language of drama. It tells stories rather than acting them out. The language of the first person is called biao, that of the third person bai; biao and bai consist mainly of prose, recited without singing. Yet there is also a small portion of versified text used for chanting, including fu zan, gua kou, yinzi and yun bai. Fu zan is used to describe scenery and objects, and to set off and reinforce the psychological state and character traits of figures. Gua kou is a character's self-introduction. Yinzi is the storyteller's introduction to the situation of the book or a statement of its theme. Yun bai is the biao or the bai of versified passages, either unfolding the plot or summarizing the preceding portion of the story. Suzhou Pinghua attaches great importance to the xue; there is the saying that 'the xue is the treasure of the book'. Comic elements arising from the contradictory unfolding of a character's personality and the plot are called 'rou li xue'. Interludes used for comparison, foil, metaphor and explanation are called 'wai chahua'. Similarly, words and phrases used to raise laughter among the audience are called 'xiao mai'. Tanci has a long history and was already fairly popular during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. Tanci is generally performed by two people, the upper seat holding the sanxian and the lower seat holding the pipa, each singing while accompanying himself, and the content is mostly legendary novels and folk tales of romantic attachment. Both Pinghua and Tanci excel in the subtlety of their narration and singing, and the soft Wu accent is pleasing to the ear; jests are often interspersed in performance, producing endless charm. Tanci is sung in the Wu accent, with rises and falls of voice, light, gentle and slow, the strings and the pipa clear and ringing, very pleasing to the ear. Suzhou Tanci can broadly be divided into three modes of performance, that is, the single 'dan dang' of one person, the 'shuang dang' of two, and the 'san ge dang' of three. All the performers sing while accompanying themselves, on the small sanxian and the pipa. The vocal music follows a system of patterned variation; the principal tune is the 'shu diao', capable of setting texts of different styles, while many tune patterns and folk minor tunes are also absorbed, such as the Fei Jia Diao and the Luan Ji Ti. The shu diao is the foundation on which the vocal styles of the various schools developed; through the singing of different performers it has given rise to a rich and varied body of school vocal styles.
Rhymed narration forms
The recited verse passages of pinghua: descriptive odes, self-introductions, prologues and rhymed narration that expands or recaps the plot.
Three kinds of joke
Humour inside the character and plot, inserted comparison or aside, and the one-line quip that draws a laugh.
Chen, Ma and Yu styles
The earliest three vocal schools of tanci, named for Chen Yuqian, Ma Rufei and Yu Xiushan, on which later styles were built.
Three performance modes
Tanci is performed by one, two or three singers, all accompanying themselves on the small sanxian and the pipa.
Shudiao and its metrical system
The tanci vocal system is built on the flexible shudiao melody, supplemented by tune labels and folk airs, and is the base of every later school.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Suzhou Tanci arose and remains popular in Suzhou and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area, performed in the Suzhou dialect. It can be broadly divided into three great schools, namely the Chen (Yuqian) tune, the Ma (Rufei) tune and the Yu (Xiushan) tune. After more than a century of development there have continually emerged new schools that inherit the styles of these three masters while also creating something of their own; multiplying in this way, they have brought about the flourishing scene in which the school vocal styles of Suzhou Pingtan take a multitude of forms.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Suzhou Pingtan · Suzhou Pingtan · Suzhou Pingtan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Suzhou Pinghua and Suzhou Tanci were approved by the State Council on 20 May 2006 for inclusion in the first national-level list of intangible cultural heritage, under the code V-1, with protection units established separately in Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. The Jiangsu Province Performing Arts Group undertakes the tasks of performance, creative work and talent cultivation, carrying on the narration and string-and-voice techniques of the long-form repertory through the model of troupe-based classes and master-disciple pairing. Over the years the number of long serial performance sessions and permanent storytelling houses has continued to decline, and relatively few young and middle-aged performers can deliver in full such chang kao works as 'The Three Kingdoms' and 'Sui and Tang'; emergency rescue recording, script collation and repertory cataloguing have therefore been listed as priorities.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xing Yanzhi 02-0707
- Jin Lisheng 02-0708
- Wang Yuexiang 03-1151
- Xing Yanchun 03-1152
- Zhang Guoliang 03-1153
- Jin Shengbo 03-1154
- Yang Naizhen 03-1155
- Chen Xian 03-1156
- Yu Hongxian 03-1157
- Jiang Wenlan 04-1700
- Zhao Kaisheng 04-1701
- Gao Jun
- Wang Zhenghua
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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