Beijing Crosstalk anyone?
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
1
122
156
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Beijing,
China
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Crosstalk, xiangsheng in Chinese (literally, "face and voice"), is a traditional form of comic dialogue that came about in China's imperial Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Crosstalk, usually performed by two people, also can be performed by one person or even a group of people.
The performers will try their best to make fun or take advantage of the other/s with the skillful play of words, a technique that brings to the fore the craft and wit of the Chinese language.
In the old days in Tianjin, Beijing, and elsewhere, temple fairs and street markets were where crosstalkers performed
Beijing Crosstalk
. More famous performers were invited to perform in teahouses and theaters. Guo said that, in those days, "the average crosstalker could earn more than the total earnings of ten rickshaw pullers".
Crosstalk pieces draw on every aspect of Chinese culture, from history and folk tales to contemporary social issues. Although there are hundreds of pieces in the traditional repertoire, they are usually edited to suit the times and the audience.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the art was criticized as decadent and belonging to the old society. Lots of crosstalk works were lost during this time.
Crosstalk has also seen a dramatic decline in recent years with fewer scripts and performers. Few live shows are performed at theaters, and only the really famous performers are invited to do their thing on TV. Even then, it's usually only once a year during the Spring Festival Gala.
Their dilemma is the same as that faced by other practitioners of traditional Chinese folk art; in a rapidly developing society where people have more and more entertainment choices, traditional art forms are increasingly unattractive.
The traditional performance art of crosstalk is making a comeback with the help of crosstalk specialist, Guo Degang.
Guo doesn't belong to an official group or troupe, and has never performed on TV. But attending his crosstalk performance is becoming increasingly trendy in Beijing, especially for young executives and school children who load their MP3 players with his works.
He might not be mainstream, but he was able to command 25 encores on a January 2006 performance, adding some three hours to the originally scheduled two-hour performance.
