Performers › Stage Performers
Liu Jingting
Late Ming storyteller from Taizhou, unrivalled in his art, who served in Zuo Liangyu's camp and is revered as a founder of pinghua storytelling.
Mural of the cultural record “Pingshu and Pinghua Storytelling”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Cao Yongchang (original name) · Zi Kuiyu · Pockmarked Liu
Liu Jingting was born Cao Yongchang, courtesy name Kuiyu, in Taizhou; after a youthful brush with the law he fled and took the surname Liu. He learned storytelling from Mo Houguang and performed in Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and elsewhere, winning fame among officials and literati. In the last years of the Ming he joined the staff of the general Zuo Liangyu, who trusted him greatly; after Zuo's death he returned to storytelling and was still performing past eighty in the early Qing. Zhang Dai's 'Liu Jingting the Storyteller' depicts his homely looks and masterly art, and Huang Zongxi and Wu Weiye both wrote biographies of him.
Life and times
Dates Dates disputed (c. 1587–c. 1670 or 1592–c. 1672); active from the Chongzhen reign to the early Kangxi era