Three Smiles

Introduction

A traditional long Suzhou tanci story of Tang Bohu selling himself into the Hua household to win the maid Qiuxiang

Three Smiles, also called The Romance of Three Smiles, is a traditional long story of Suzhou tanci, listed with The Jade Dragonfly, The Pearl Pagoda and The Gold-Painted Phoenix among the classic books of the national heritage item Suzhou pingtan. It tells how the Ming scholar Tang Bohu glimpses Qiuxiang, a maid of Grand Tutor Hua's wife, and sells himself into the household as a page and tutor to the two Hua sons, until she has smiled at him three times. The tale goes back to Feng Menglong's late Ming story collection Stories to Caution the World, and earlier Ming notes already have the maid glancing back with a smile. Storytellers weave many tunes into the long telling, such as the mountain-song tune in the episode of chasing the boat and the Xiangjiang lang tune in the episode where Shiliu pours out her heart. Suzhou tanci took shape around the turn from the Ming to the Qing, and it entered the first national intangible heritage list with Suzhou pingtan in 2006.