Huji Book Fair
01 · Historical Records
It originated earliest in competitive activities of quyi artists, and later gradually evolved into a spontaneous folk quyi exchange activity with a customary character, centered mainly on fellowship. In 1985 the government built a quyi hall capable of holding more than eight hundred people and leveled the ground, providing effective management and proper accommodation for the artists who attended the fair, which was welcomed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Huji Storytelling Fair is a grand quyi market gathering that arose and took root in Huji Town, Huimin County, Shandong Province. According to folk legend, it has a history of more than three hundred years to this day. Each year the twelfth day of the first lunar month is the "partial session" of the Huji Storytelling Fair, and the fifteenth is the "main session." Whenever the fair is held, the artists arrive in Huji before the evening of the eleventh, lodging in villagers' homes, and collectively carry out fellowship activities such as "wangkong" and "baomen"; from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. the following day they gather near the dry ditch southeast of the town and choose spots to perform. The fair features performing forms such as Xihe big drum, wooden-board big drum, bamboo clapper tales, pinghua storytelling, Bohai big drum, Shandong kuaishu, Shandong qinshu, and yugu storytelling. Nearby masses and the "book-inviting" representatives of the various villages come in turn to watch; after selecting the artists and programs, they take away the artists' musical instruments to show that a deal has been made. From that evening until the sixteenth of the first month, the artists perform for four consecutive days at the households or units that have invited them, and the remuneration they receive is quite generous. At the height of the fair, in addition to artists from nearby and from the province itself, storytellers from other places such as Liaoning came to attend, reaching more than three hundred stalls at most, with an audience of over a hundred thousand. The Huji Storytelling Fair has always been a spontaneous activity of folk artists; during the fair, a person of high prestige is publicly elected to preside over ceremonies such as the memorial rites and the acceptance of apprentices. As a spontaneously formed, purely quyi trading activity, the Huji Storytelling Fair has a long history and far-reaching influence, and has played a positive role in exchanging and developing the art of quyi and in enriching the masses' festive entertainment.
Greetings before the doors the night before
Artists arrive a day early, lodge at villagers' homes and exchange greetings before the fair opens.
The minor and the main fair days
The twelfth is the minor day and the fifteenth the main day of the fair.
Booking an artist and taking his instrument
Representatives choose an artist and take his instrument as the token of agreement.
Eight Shandong narrative genres at one fair
Eight Shandong genres take turns, with as many as three hundred acts gathering.
Choosing a respected elder to lead the rites
A respected elder chosen by consensus presides over the rites and the teaching.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the Huji Storytelling Fair relies on the artists' own conscious tradition of hurrying to the fair. Before the evening of the eleventh of the first month each year, storytellers gradually arrive in Huji Town and lodge in villagers' homes; that night they gather in the courtyard to carry out fellowship activities such as wangkong and baomen, a salute to one another and to the rivals they will share the stage with. From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. the following day the artists gather near the dry ditch southeast of the town to choose spots and begin singing, each relying on voice and rhythmic sense to hold a piece of ground of his own. A mixture of genres is the distinctive feature of Huji: Xihe big drum, wooden-board big drum, bamboo clapper tales, pinghua storytelling, Bohai big drum, Shandong kuaishu, Shandong qinshu, and yugu storytelling take the stage in turn; the artists come from neighboring counties and provinces, and at most more than three hundred stalls could gather. Nearby masses and the book-inviting representatives of the various villages come in turn to watch, and after selecting the artists and programs they take his instrument as a deposit. The artists then perform for four consecutive days at the households or units that have invited them, from that evening until the sixteenth of the first month. This has always been a spontaneous activity of the artists: during the fair a person of high prestige is publicly elected to preside over memorial rites and the acceptance of apprentices, and in 1985 the government again built a quyi hall capable of holding more than eight hundred people and leveled the ground, so that accommodation and management work thereafter had a basis.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
What the Huji Storytelling Fair preserves is a form of quyi organization built around trade: the artists gather at the fair in the days before the Spring Festival, the audiences settle performance slots by inviting books, and musical instruments serve as proof of agreement between booking and cancellation; fellow villagers and neighbors can run the whole thing on their own without any official arrangement. At the fair's height, more than three hundred stalls of artists and an audience of over a hundred thousand gathered in one place; the vocal styles of the various Shandong quyi categories ground against one another by the dry ditch, and the artists both competed for business and secretly learned new tunes at the fair — teacher-disciple lineages often arose from these few days of encountering one another. During the fair a person of high prestige is publicly elected to preside over memorial rites and the acceptance of apprentices, maintaining the craft of quyi simultaneously as a trade and as the rules of the profession. The publicly elected elders are both seniors and judges; whether one is qualified or good is decided by their single word, so the Huji Storytelling Fair has at once the triple character of market, school, and guild. The Huimin County Cultural Center and the intangible cultural heritage protection center now bear the responsibility of registering artists, compiling repertoires, and maintaining the fair period; whether this purely spontaneous market mechanism can be carried on under new market conditions is the main issue facing the fair.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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