Humorous Stories
01 · Historical Records
The Wanrong jokes are one of the folk literary forms current in Shanxi; the people of Wanrong, with their humorous and witty character, interpret their understanding of and love for life and created the jokes people delight in telling. From the late Ming and early Qing the people of Wanrong created and spread a great many jokes, continually enriching and perfecting them, and they have become a vivid representative of Shanxi regional culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Wanrong jokes are one of the folk literary forms current in Shanxi; the people of Wanrong, with their humorous and witty character, interpret their understanding of and love for life and created the jokes people delight in telling. From the late Ming and early Qing the people of Wanrong created and spread a great many jokes, continually enriching and perfecting them. The greatest feature of the Wanrong jokes is the word zheng, a stubborn insistence; the protagonists all have a zheng streak, shown in love of argument, perverse reasoning or obstinate, unbending and competitive conduct. Humour, clinging to a dead reason, refusing to yield and being stubborn to the end form the striking features of the Wanrong jokes.
Seven Fools Who Only Know How to Eat
One of the representative Wanrong jokes.
The Rich Man Invites a Genius
One of the representative Wanrong jokes.
Throwing Away the Chamber Pot
One of the representative Wanrong jokes.
The Zheng Streak Narrative Feature
The striking feature of the Wanrong joke protagonists in their love of argument, perverse reasoning and obstinate conduct.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Wanrong jokes circulate with Wanrong county in Shanxi as their centre and are mostly told in village threshing grounds, at markets and temple fairs and on everyday occasions; the tellers are mostly ordinary peasants, with a rich local flavour of southern Shanxi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Wanrong jokes are funny and rich in philosophy; they are a concentrated display of the wisdom of the people's life, greatly enrich people's cultural life and have important documentary value for studying the cultural psychology of the Shanxi region. In recent years, as the old artists have died one after another and under the influence of modern media, the Wanrong jokes have been on the verge of being lost and dying out and urgently need protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jiefang 05-2010
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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