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Wang Hongxing
Qing-era Beijing storyteller revered by pingshu tellers as the founder and first generation of Beijing pingshu, said to have turned sung ballads into pure spoken storytelling.
Mural of the cultural record “Pingshu and Pinghua Storytelling”, which this person is tied to.
- Roles
- Stage Performers
Wang Hongxing was a Qing-dynasty storyteller in Beijing for whom no firm historical record survives; what is told of him comes from the oral tradition of the trade. Pingshu tellers honour him as the founder of Beijing pingshu and the first generation of their lineage. Tradition holds that he began as a singer of string-accompanied ballads and then dropped the music to tell stories with only a table, a fan and a gavel; that he studied with Liu Jingting in Jiangnan; and that in 1735 he registered with the imperial household's ceremonial office to take pupils, training He Liangchen, An Liangchen and Deng Guangchen, the 'Three Chen'. All of this is guild lore, and scholars have questioned its chronology.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; said to have registered as a teacher in 1735