Jieshou Book Fair
01 · Historical Records
The Jieshou storytelling gathering (界首书会) originated in Miaohu Village, Renzhai Township, Jieshou City, Anhui Province, and has a history of more than three hundred years to this day. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, a rare good harvest happened to occur; the zhuizi-weng (ballad-singing) artist Miao Benlin, in summer, composed and sang little songs in praise of it beside his own gate. Under his influence, folk-art performers from neighboring villages gathered at Miaohu, one pulling the fiddle while the other sang, celebrating the harvest. In 1932, Miao Yuanpu, fifth-generation successor of the zhuizi-weng tradition, formally set the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in leap years as the fixed date of the Miaohu storytelling gathering, in commemoration of the 165th anniversary of the birth of Miao Benlin, the first-generation founder of the gathering. In 1985, the Miaohu storytelling gathering was revived. The origin of the Jieshou storytelling gathering is tied to a single harvest. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, the Miaohu area suffered successive years of famine, when suddenly a rare good harvest came; the zhuizi-weng artist Miao Benlin composed and sang little songs in praise beside his own gate, and folk-art performers from neighboring villages, hearing the sound, came running, one pulling the fiddle while the other sang — and their singing grew into a gathering. For decades thereafter, this village on low-lying ground held its vitality by means of a single folk-art meeting; in 1932 the fifth-generation successor Miao Yuanpu formally set the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in leap years as the gathering's date, the reason being that Miao Benlin was born in such a year. The gathering fell silent for a time and was not revived until 1985, its date and rules unchanged.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Miaohu lies on low-lying ground, with successive years of famine. Miaohu Village thereby formed the custom of holding the storytelling gathering on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, passed down from generation to generation and enduring without decline. During the Cultural Revolution, the gathering's activities fell silent for a time. Each Miaohu storytelling gathering in Jieshou lasts five days; during the gathering, folk-art performers from Cao County in Shandong, Pei County in Jiangsu, Dawu County in Hubei, the Zhoukou area of Henan, and the Fuyang and Suzhou areas of Anhui come in succession to perform, while people from within several hundred li flock to Miaohu to listen to the storytelling — a grand and extraordinarily lively scene.
The fair on the sixth of the leap month
Held on the sixth day of a leap month to mark the birthday of the founder Miao Benlin.
The first song sung beside a farmhouse door
It began as a song sung at a farmhouse door after a good harvest and grew into a five-day gathering.
Five days of back-to-back singing
Performers come from several provinces for five days, drawing audiences from hundreds of miles around.
The lute accompaniment of the zhuanzi telling
A plucked lute carries both tune and beat; one phrase of it is enough to still a crowd.
The line of descent at Miaohu
Five generations of inheritors have passed the repertoire down, allowing new songs but not new rules.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The emergence of the Jieshou storytelling gathering gave the zhuizi ballad art greater development, and it has been sung without decline throughout the Ying River valley; many famous storytellers have come to the Miaohu gathering to perform and offer their art. With its rich cultural substance and sincere, unadorned singing art, the Miaohu storytelling gathering of Jieshou has influenced the surrounding area and promoted local economic development and cultural-ethical progress.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since then, the Miaohu storytelling gathering of Jieshou has undergone further development in the course of continuous transmission. The value of the Miaohu gathering lies in more than its bustle. The zhuizi ballad art was originally the speech of the lower orders; the gathering gave it a place to take the stage and gave the singing-and-storytelling traditions of the Ying River valley a venue in which to observe one another. A troupe nurtured by a single gathering is often kept for decades, and audiences pass down through generations as well, so that a strain of local melody does not simply die in the mouths of old performers.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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