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Suzhou Pingtan

Sanxian and pipa: telling, joking, playing, singing

Introduction

Wu-dialect storytelling: pinghua spoken, tanci sung to sanxian and pipa

Suzhou pingtan is the joint name for Suzhou pinghua and Suzhou tanci, both performed in the Suzhou dialect. Pinghua, the 'big book', is told by one performer in speech alone, with historical and martial epics such as the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin; tanci, the 'small book', is told and sung by one to three performers who accompany themselves on sanxian and pipa, with romances such as The Pearl Pagoda and The Jade Dragonfly. Both took shape by the late Ming and early Qing at the latest; Wang Zhoushi is said to have sung for the Qianlong emperor, and Chen Yuqian, Yu Xiushan and Ma Rufei founded the Chen, Yu and Ma tunes, from which more than ten later schools such as the Jiang and Li tunes grew. From the 1930s Shanghai became its centre and radio carried it to its height, and it entered the first national intangible heritage list in 2006.

Timeline

Late Ming and early Qing to present
1640 · OriginSuzhou pinghua and Suzhou tanci took shape in the late Ming and early Qing. The word tanci already appears in Tian Rucheng's Xihu youlan zhiyu of 1547 among the shows at the Hangzhou tidal-bore festival, and the same book describes blind Hangzhou performers singing taozhen tales to the pipa.1770 · EvolutionAccording to tradition, the tanci performer Wang Zhoushi was summoned to sing for the Qianlong emperor on a southern tour and later founded the Guangyu guild of storytellers in Suzhou; pingtan flourished in Suzhou in the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns.1930 · EvolutionWith the rise of radio in the 1930s the centre of pingtan moved from Suzhou to Shanghai and Suzhou tanci reached its height, joined by the many women performers who had appeared since the late Qing and early Republic.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 Suzhou pingtan (Suzhou pinghua and Suzhou tanci) entered the first national list as V-1, with extensions for Shanghai in 2008 and for Jiangsu and Zhejiang troupes in 2011.
  1. 1640OriginSuzhou pinghua and Suzhou tanci took shape in the late Ming and early Qing. The word tanci already appears in Tian Rucheng's Xihu youlan zhiyu of 1547 among the shows at the Hangzhou tidal-bore festival, and the same book describes blind Hangzhou performers singing taozhen tales to the pipa.
  2. 1770EvolutionAccording to tradition, the tanci performer Wang Zhoushi was summoned to sing for the Qianlong emperor on a southern tour and later founded the Guangyu guild of storytellers in Suzhou; pingtan flourished in Suzhou in the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns.
  3. 1930EvolutionWith the rise of radio in the 1930s the centre of pingtan moved from Suzhou to Shanghai and Suzhou tanci reached its height, joined by the many women performers who had appeared since the late Qing and early Republic.
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 Suzhou pingtan (Suzhou pinghua and Suzhou tanci) entered the first national list as V-1, with extensions for Shanghai in 2008 and for Jiangsu and Zhejiang troupes in 2011.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · V-1 Suzhou pingtan [Suzhou pinghua · Suzhou tanci] · no. 237 · nominated by Suzhou · Jiangsu
  2. 2006Related southern tanci and nanci forms hosted by this recordper the research mapping): 2006 V-16 Nanping nanci · V-17 Shaoxing pinghu diao · V-34 gece (Dongshan · Chaozhou extension 2008) · 2008 V-50 Yangzhou tanci · V-51 Changsha tanci · V-52 Hangzhou pingci · V-54 Shaoxing cidiao · V-55 Linhai cidiao · V-56 Siming nanci · 2021 V-132 santiao (Huzhou
  3. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, extension itemV-1 Suzhou pingtan · Shanghai Story-House Workers' Association
  4. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, extension itemV-1 Suzhou pingtan · Jiangsu Performing Arts Group and Zhejiang Quyi and Acrobatics Troupe