Majie Book Fair
01 · Historical Records
The Majie storytelling fair has a long history, and its starting date is difficult to determine with certainty. According to historical materials, it may have first appeared in the Yuan dynasty, more than six hundred years ago; at the latest it may have appeared during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, which would still be more than two hundred years ago.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Majie storytelling fair in Baofeng County, Henan Province, also called the "Thirteen Majie Storytelling Fair," is a grand nationwide gathering for the trade of the storytelling profession. Each year the fair runs from the thirteenth to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with the thirteenth as its main day. The fair is held on the bank of the Ying River north of Majie Village, Yangzhuang Town, 7 kilometers south of Baofeng County town. On this occasion storytellers from Henan Province and other provinces and cities arrive with drums and stringed instruments to gather here and display their storytelling arts; Henan zhuizi, daoqing, quzi, qinshu, and other genres are all present, the scale magnificent, forming a splendid spectacle of folk art from across the country. Because the Majie storytelling fair has a unique charm of folk art performance and a rich cultural heritage, it is praised as one of "China's ten great folk customs," and Baofeng County has accordingly been named by the relevant national departments a "hometown of quyi (folk vocal arts)" and a "hometown of Chinese folk art." As a venue and cultural space for folk quyi exchange and trade with distinctive characteristics, the outstanding features of the Majie storytelling fair are: 1. large scale, the greatest in the country; 2. long history, reaching far back; 3. the distinctive form of "writing books" when telling stories (that is, concluding performance contracts with the artists); 4. rich content and great influence; 5. making friends through storytelling, with deep fellow-feeling among the artists' hometowns. During each fair, quyi artists from various places come full of reverence to "show their books" (display their storytelling art); with the sky as their curtain and the ground as their stage, they speak, pull, pluck, and sing, making friends through art, generation after generation. The audience often numbers upward of a hundred thousand, and the influence radiates several hundred kilometers around.
Opening day, the thirteenth
The gathering runs from the thirteenth to the fifteenth of the first lunar month.
The open-air story-telling ground on the river
Held on the bank of the Beiying river, with drum and qin as the only props.
Showcasing and contracting work
Showcasing is voluntary performance; contracting is the arrangement made with a chosen artist.
Zhuizi, daoqing, quzi and qinshu together
Several regional genres perform side by side, creating the fair's most lively scenes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the Majie storytelling fair relies on the villages and river beaches around Yangzhuang Town, south of Baofeng County town. Storytellers who make their living at storytelling in the first lunar month mostly stay with relatives or friends the night before the fair, moving their storytelling venue directly to the bank of the Ying River; there is no fixed stage, so the artists bring their own drums and stringed instruments, find an open space large enough to hold the audience, and begin; the spectators sit in a semicircle around the venue, stall following stall, the sound rising and falling in turn. In terms of genres, Henan zhuizi, daoqing, quzi, and qinshu all open in the same fair period; local vocal styles are set side by side with the schools of artists from other provinces, so within a single fair one can hear several styles. The Baofeng County People's Cultural Center organizes the first-month storytelling fair as a fixed festival cultural activity, and the quyi backbone of the various townships appears in concentrated fashion during the fair, the artists using the fair period as an occasion for mutual observation and exchange. The geographical influence of the fair is not confined to the county: the masses from several hundred kilometers around hurry to the fair, and artists from other provinces come on its reputation to take up slots. The fame of the fair has been built up precisely by the year-after-year movement of its audience.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The value of the Majie storytelling fair lies first in its preservation of a complete folk performance order: the artists display their signature skills by "showing their books," the audiences settle performance sessions by "inviting books," and the two sides complete a transaction through a single oral agreement, from which the performance schedule from the first to the sixteenth of the first month is arranged. The New Year customs of the first month provide a stable period for the fair, whose dates adjoin the Lantern Festival before and after; during the New Year festival the people both view lanterns and listen to storytelling, creating a rare quyi market form in the Central Plains. Several hundred thousand spectators and a radiation range of several hundred kilometers enabled the Majie storytelling fair to be listed among China's ten great folk customs, and Baofeng County has accordingly been called a hometown of quyi and a hometown of Chinese folk art. Today's protection relies mainly on the cultural center organizing the fair period, registering artist rosters, and arranging performance venues, while the artists' own repertoires and teacher-disciple lineages are still transmitted mainly by word of mouth; loss of repertoire and a shortage of successors remain the most realistic risks for this trade.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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