Hubei Pingshu Storytelling
01 · Historical Records
In the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming dynasty (1643), Zuo Liangyu, General for the Suppression of Bandits, stationed troops at Wuchang and engaged Liu Jingting, the great storyteller of Jiangnan, as a member of his military staff, telling stories within the army camp. Since the end of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, a number of pingshu performing artists have appeared one after another in Hubei, such as the 'Four Standards of Tong, Wang, Jiao and Xia pingshu' and the 'Five Tigers of the Storytelling World', and three major schools have formed, represented by Rong Zongsheng, Chen Shutang and Jiang Yunqing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hubei pingshu is a form of quyi that arose in the Hubei region, transmitted mainly in Wuhan, Shashi, Jingzhou, Yichang, Xiaogan and other places. Southern school storytellers regard Liu Jingting as the founding master of their craft, venerating him as 'Ancestor Liu'; Hubei pingshu developed under the influence of the Liu lineage. Hubei pingshu is good at using dynamic performance such as gesture, posture and vocal mimicry, together with props such as the table, the fan, the striking block and the handkerchief, to portray the various characters in the story and to build up the atmosphere. Performers mostly use colloquial folk speech for the dialogue of characters, while descriptions of scenery are often given in elegant parallel prose. The repertoires of Hubei pingshu are very rich and can be broadly divided into two classes. One class consists of the 'dizishu', told from the text of a novel, and the 'xuejiaxue', developed and elaborated on the basis of the 'dizishu'; works of this kind include Chronicles of the States, Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Sui and Tang, Biographies of Heroes, The Eight Heroes and Twelve Gallants and The Remarkable Woman Devotes Herself to Her Country. The other class is called 'luzishu', and includes works such as The Picture of Wang Mang's Loyalty and Filial Piety and The Contest of Wits Among the Eight Schools.
Dizi shu and “snow upon snow”
One of the two great repertoires of Hubei pingshu: works told from a novelistic base text and their reworked expansions.
Luzi shu
The second Hubei pingshu repertoire, told from the storyteller's own plot lines rather than a novel, as in Wang Mang's Picture of Loyalty and Filial Piety.
Parallel prose and colloquial speech
The dual language of Hubei pingshu, colloquial speech for dialogue and elegant parallel prose for scenic description.
Willow Village; The Colour TV Dispute
Representative writings by He Zuohuan, whose output exceeds five million characters; his The Ugly Man Li Fusheng won a Peony Award for literature.
Wang Mang's Picture of Loyalty and Filial Piety; Wit Across Eight Gates
Representative “luzi shu” titles, created by storytellers themselves rather than derived from novels.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hubei pingshu takes the three cities of Wuhan as its centre and also covers Shashi, Jingzhou, Yichang, Xiaogan and other places. Since the end of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, batches of famous masters such as the 'Four Standards of Tong, Wang, Jiao and Xia pingshu' and the 'Five Tigers of the Storytelling World' have appeared in Hubei, and three major schools have formed, represented by Rong Zongsheng, Chen Shutang and Jiang Yunqing, each distinguished by its book route and vocal manner. Performance venues were at first mostly teahouses, storytelling houses and docks, and performers later entered professional quyi troupes; southern school storytellers revere Liu Jingting as the founding master of their craft and honour him as 'Ancestor Liu'. He Zuohuan is the representative of the contemporary Wuhan line, whose performance is refined and even-tempered and whose book route is broad. The protecting unit is Wuhan Shuochang Troupe Co., Ltd.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Hubei pingshu shows distinctive character in literature, language and performance alike; it has high research value and deserves attention. Today this precious folk art has few successors and its prospects are worrying, so it is necessary to strengthen research into it and to protect it. He Zuohuan (as recorded in the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in March 1941, a native of Hanyang County, Hubei Province. A national first-class actor. In his long artistic practice he worked tirelessly and drew on the strengths of many, forming an artistic character that is refined and even-tempered with a broad book route. His literary output exceeds five million characters, among which representative works are the long-form The Willow Stockade, the medium-length The Colour Television Turmoil and the short story A Match Beyond the Heavens. Representative inheritor of Hubei pingshu of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. His work The Ugly Man Li Fusheng won the literary prize at the first China Quyi Peony Awards in 2000, presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Quyi Association. More than ten of the disciples he has trained are all active on the professional and amateur stages of the River City.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Zuohuan 03-1177
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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