Eight Folding Screens

Introduction

A traditional crosstalk duet of patter on figures from the past, named after an official's eight-panel screen

Eight Folding Screens, also called Zhangshan'er, is a traditional crosstalk duet built to show off a performer's skill in guankou, long rapid patter. It is named after the eight-panel screens that official households once set up, painted with scenes and figures from history, and each passage of patter tells the deeds of one or more people of the past. The first eight passages were the poor man, the dolt, the child, the rash man, the countryman, the wanderer, the man who scolded someone to death and the feathered beast, and later performers added others such as the fisherman, the fool and the honest man. The passage on the rash man is about Zhang Fei and ends with his single roar at the bridge of Dangyang that drives back the army of Cao Cao. Li Deyang was a master of the piece and chose which passages to give according to the audience, Zhang Shouchen, Chang Baokun, Liu Baorui and Su Wenmao all performed it, and texts and recordings by Liu Baorui, Guo Quanbao and others survive.