Chinese Storytelling Research Database
Genre definition: 
Oral Performances
koutou biaoyan
口頭表演
Performance genres
shuochang
說唱
Storytelling
pinghua, pingshu
評話, 評書
Fuzhou storytelling
Fuzhou pinghua
福州平話
Huo shao Baihualou
火燒百花樓
Burning of the Hundred Flower Pavillon
Performed by Mao Qinming 毛欽銘
Audio Tape recorded by Anonymous
Private collection of Vibeke Børdahl
Recorded on No date : No place
Private tape recording (A + B), ca 60 minutes, Fuzhou storytelling, Fuzhou pinghua. Probably performed in the late 1990s. Probably a gift from the Beifang quyi xuexiao, Tianjin 1997, but my memory is not clear.
The performance starts with the performer beating a small metal bell, and then singing for several minutes. He beats his xingmu (awakening board) regularly throughout the performance and sometimes on hears the fan being opened or closed energetically. After the initial song he tells in prose, with only two or three small poems inserted during the first half an hour. The poems are sung, not recited. During the second
half of the performance there less poetry and song, maybe only once. The main portion of the performance is thus in prose, clearly Fujian dialect all the way through.
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