Chinese Storytelling

Chinese Storytelling

Elements of Performance


  1. Storytellers Terms and Sayings

  2. The storytellers house

  3. The performance

  4. A storytelling engagement

  5. Stage properties

  6. The storytellers' dress

  7. Gestures and face expressions

  8. Verbal art

  9. 'Talk' and 'mouth'

  10. 'Square Mouth' and 'Round Mouth'

  11. Telling the tale

  12. Humour and digression

Elements of Performance (5)

Stage properties

The Chinese storyteller is only dependent on "his sole person and his sole mouth" yi ren yi kou. Most genres of storytelling without song and music are performed by only one person, but the musically accompanied genres, also called "storysinging", are often performed by two or three. Yangzhou pinghua belongs to the purely spoken genres, performed by one person (usually a male performer) and the requisites are few and simple. The storyteller can make do with no requisites at all, but usually the following items are used: