Sichuan Pingshu Storytelling
01 · Historical Records
Sichuan pingshu is mainly popular in Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province. It had formed by the Xianfeng era of the Qing dynasty at the latest, and the protecting unit is the Chongqing Quyi Troupe. Its origins can be traced back to the storytelling artistry of the Song dynasty and to the pingshua narrative prose of the Ming and Qing dynasties; after the Qing conquest it took fixed form in the teahouse and storytelling-house culture of Sichuan and Chongqing, where performers won over their audiences by bare-mouth narration, relying on nothing but a waking block, a folding fan and a handkerchief and on the humour and rhythm of the local dialect. Around the middle of the 20th century Sichuan pingshu moved gradually from teahouses to the stage and the radio, producing modern repertoire works that performers wrote and told themselves and that kept abreast of current events. The storytelling performance is captivating and rich in the distinctive character of Bashu culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Sichuan pingshu is a quyi genre mainly popular in Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province, formed by the Xianfeng era of the Qing dynasty at the latest. The performance format is a single performer narrating by mouth alone, assisted by such props as the waking block, the folding fan and the handkerchief. By performance style there is a division between the so-called qing peng and lei peng: qing peng emphasises the literary quality of the language and is skilled in wen shu (civil books), while lei peng stresses tone and rhythm and is skilled in wu shu (martial books). There is also a distinction between mo shu and tiao shu according to the different origins of the source books: mo shu refers to repertoire works adapted from novels such as The Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, whereas tiao shu refers to works devised by the performer himself, such as The Golden Rooster and the Hibiscus Picture and The Tale of the Iron Knight. The storytelling performance is captivating, the language full of humour, and rich in the distinctive character of Bashu culture.
Clear shed and thunder shed
Two performing manners: the "clear shed" relishes literary language for civil tales, the "thunder shed" stresses rhythm for martial ones.
Ink books and strip books
Items divide by source: "ink books" adapted from novels such as the Three Kingdoms, and "strip books" composed by the teller himself.
Gavel, fan and handkerchief
A single teller works bare-handed save for a gavel, a folding fan and a handkerchief, which stand in for weapons, books and other props.
Composed strip books
Representative self-composed strip books, performed alongside novel-derived ink books such as the Three Kingdoms.
Xu Qing and Red Crag
Xu Qing fused the literary and rhythmic manners, took the storytelling from teahouse to stage and radio, and won a lifetime Peony award in 2008.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Storytellers in Chongqing and Chengdu have long moved between the two cities; storytelling venues are often set up at wharves, in market towns and in city teahouses, and the compilation of repertoire works and of tiao shu pieces draws on each other. According to the project archive, performance style divides into qing peng and lei peng: qing peng emphasises literary language and is skilled in wen shu, lei peng stresses tone and rhythm and is skilled in wu shu; according to the origin of the source book there is further a division into mo shu and tiao shu, the former adapted from novels and the latter devised by the performer. Since the end of the 20th century performers have declined and performances have shrunk, and transmission now relies largely on the quyi troupes and on programmes bringing quyi into schools.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since the end of the 20th century the transmission and development of Sichuan pingshu have met with great difficulty: performers have declined, performances have shrunk, the art is on the verge of being lost, and it urgently needs protection. Xu Qing (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): National first-class performer. He inherited the narrative strengths of qing peng and the performative strengths of lei peng, discarded stock phrases, made play of the humour and liveliness of dialect words, wrote and told his own repertoire reflecting the lives of ordinary people, kept pace with the times, gave his audiences a fresh and startling experience, and pushed Sichuan pingshu out of the teahouses onto the stage and the radio. Representative works include Red Crag and The Seizure of the Seal. Male, of Han nationality, born in March 1936, died in February 2017, a native of Chongqing Municipality. Representative inheritor of Sichuan pingshu in the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. In 2008 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the fifth China Quyi Peony Award, presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Quyi Association.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Qing 04-1732
- Cenglingdi
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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