MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Pingshu and Pinghua Storytelling

The gavel block falls, and the story begins

Introduction

One table, one chair, a gavel block and a fan: long tales told in speech

Pingshu and pinghua is the family of quyi in which a single performer, seated behind a table with a gavel block and a folding fan, tells long historical romances and tales of heroes and judges mainly in speech; the north calls it pingshu and the south pinghua. Its main forms include Yangzhou pinghua (V-2), Fuzhou pinghua (V-3), Beijing pingshu (V-57), Sichuan pingshu (V-110) and Xiamen jianggu (V-60); Suzhou pinghua belongs to Suzhou pingtan. It continues the history-telling branch of shuohua in the Song entertainment quarters; the late Ming storyteller Liu Jingting is honoured as its founding master, and from 1979 Liu Lanfang's Story of Yue Fei carried pingshu across the country by radio.

Timeline

Late Ming to present
1630 · OriginIn the Chongzhen reign Liu Jingting became famous as a storyteller in Nanjing and elsewhere; Zhang Dai's essay on him describes his telling of Wu Song killing the tiger at Jingyang Ridge as detailed 'down to the finest hair', and Huang Zongxi wrote his biography.1730 · EvolutionYangzhou pinghua arose in the early Qing, when Pu Lin told Qingfengzha, drawn from his own life; by the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns Fuzhou pinghua had printed texts such as Qixing baizhima.1979 · ImpactOn 1 September 1979 Anshan People's Radio began broadcasting Liu Lanfang's full-length pingshu Story of Yue Fei; within a year 66 stations across the country had relayed it.2006 · ImpactYangzhou and Fuzhou pinghua entered the first national list in 2006, followed by Beijing pingshu, Hangzhou pinghua, Hubei pingshu, Pudong shuoshu and jianggu in 2008 and Sichuan pingshu in 2011.
  1. 1630OriginIn the Chongzhen reign Liu Jingting became famous as a storyteller in Nanjing and elsewhere; Zhang Dai's essay on him describes his telling of Wu Song killing the tiger at Jingyang Ridge as detailed 'down to the finest hair', and Huang Zongxi wrote his biography.Literature › Liu Jingting the Storyteller
  2. 1730EvolutionYangzhou pinghua arose in the early Qing, when Pu Lin told Qingfengzha, drawn from his own life; by the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns Fuzhou pinghua had printed texts such as Qixing baizhima.
  3. 1979ImpactOn 1 September 1979 Anshan People's Radio began broadcasting Liu Lanfang's full-length pingshu Story of Yue Fei; within a year 66 stations across the country had relayed it.
  4. 2006ImpactYangzhou and Fuzhou pinghua entered the first national list in 2006, followed by Beijing pingshu, Hangzhou pinghua, Hubei pingshu, Pudong shuoshu and jianggu in 2008 and Sichuan pingshu in 2011.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: V-2 Yangzhou pinghua [no. 238 · Yangzhou · Jiangsu] · V-3 Fuzhou pinghua [no. 239 · Fuzhou · Fujian]
  2. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: V-53 Hangzhou pinghua [no. 746] · V-57 Beijing pingshu [no. 750 · Xuanwu district · Beijing · Anshan · Benxi and Yingkou · Liaoning] · V-58 Hubei pingshu [no. 751 · Wuhan] · V-59 Pudong shuoshu [no. 752 · Pudong · Shanghai] · V-60 Jianggu [no. 753 · Siming · Xiamen]
  3. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · V-110 Sichuan pingshu · no. 1134 · Chongqing Quyi Troupe) · 2011 extension of V-2 Yangzhou pinghua (Jiangsu Performing Arts Group