The Vitality of A Traditional Art

By+Ding+Ying

Its 9：30 p.m. on a Friday night. Over 100 audience members casually sip tea while taking in the performance of a comedic dialogue showcasing the traditional Chinese linguistic art known as xiangsheng， or crosstalk. Li Kuan， a 28-year-old crosstalk performer， and his partner engage in snappy interactions with the audience while poking fun at one another. Li seizes everybodys attention when he starts to imitate the aria of a famous Peking Opera master.

A ringtone blaring pop music suddenly interrupts proceedings. Unperturbed， Li Kuan ignores it and finishes his improvisation. “See， although the music accompaniment was wrong， my rhythm was still quite accurate， right？” He jokingly remarks to the audience.

Li Kuan is representative of the new generation of crosstalk performers. In this generation， both performers and audiences have varying opinions on this performing art. But this is nothing new or especially alarming： The form has a long history of evolving with time.

Performance anxiety

Crosstalks history can be traced back to hundreds of years ago. It began as a folk art involving singing and talking that originated in north China. Initially， crosstalk was performed by a sole actor. By the early 1910s， it developed basic performance patterns. It can be staged as a single-person monologue， a two-person dialogue or a multi-person performance. Compared to Western stand-up comedy， crosstalk requires a greater number of skills. Performance skills can be divided into four categories： talking， imitating， telling jokes and singing. This art form has attained popularity， particularly in north China， owing to its ability to elicit giggles from audiences—even radio audiences—instantly， and showcase the unique charms of the Chinese language.

“Crosstalk has gone through different periods of development，” senior crosstalk performer Meng Fangui said to Beijing Review. He recalled that in the 1980s， crosstalk experienced a period of blossoming. Many crosstalk masters emerged and rose to prominence with their various popular works， said Meng. With the development of TV programs showcasing variety entertainment， crosstalk became a kind of entertainment mainly broadcast on TV instead of being performed live as it had traditionally been. It was not until the 2000s that the form entered a new period of renaissance.

Meng pointed out that TV is a doubleedged sword for crosstalk. On the one hand， TV has popularized this performing art， and opened it up to a whole new audience who is for various reasons unable to attend live shows， Meng said. On the other hand， the time constraints inherent in TV broadcasting negate the essence of a form that engages audiences in this manner， he added. “Although this doesnt affect crosstalks performance skills in an artistic sense， it destroys the completeness of a crosstalk piece，”said Meng.

Generally， a complete crosstalk piece should have an intricate structure comprising dozens of minutes of performance. Actors deliver the punch lines of their jokes in accordance with the audiences reactions and the dictates of comic timing. “When a crosstalk piece is shortened into a segment of a TV program， it has to omit a lot of the content it should include，” Meng explained. “Besides， people have so many entertainment options now and their attention spans have shortened.”

In 2003， veteran crosstalk actor Li Jindou started an initiative entitled Getting Crosstalk Back Into Theaters， believing this represents the best way to revive crosstalks fortunes as a performing art. Since then， watching crosstalk in small theaters has become somewhat a craze in Beijing. Every year， a national crosstalk contest is hosted by Beijing TV.

Meng observes that younger generations have better educational backgrounds than his generation did. “I believe they will have a bright future. The only thing I would plead of them is to stay away from bad influences such as vulgarity or drugs. Maybe the older generation will need to learn from them in the future. Crosstalk is an art that has continually evolved with each successive generation，” he said.

The next generation

For Li Kuan， crosstalk performance is in his blood， having been born into a family of per- formers in Beijing. “I have been surrounded by crosstalk every day since I was born. My family， my relatives and my parents friends have all related to this art. I have mastered most of the necessary skills without special studies，” he told Beijing Review.

Li Kuan is the apprentice of Li Jindou， who has been a friend of the family since Li Kuan was a boy. The obligation to inherit and develop this linguistic art in his generation weighs heavily on Li Kuans mind.

“Underlying its jokes， traditional crosstalk has a hidden set of rules guiding performances that on the face of it， seem to be random. A successful crosstalk must have a core around which actors adopt various kinds of skills，” Li Kuan explained. “But many of todays crosstalk pieces have a loose structure. They taste like fast food instead of a well-cooked dish.”

In June 2014， Li Kuan founded a crosstalk club named Kuanhe Teahouse. This club performs on average 15 times a month in four different small theaters in Beijing. The club has 50 regular performers， including five famous senior performers. But it can sometimes play host to 70 performers， because many crosstalk masters like Meng will give special performances at Li Kuans invitation.

“We are trying to combine traditional performance skills and rules with modern content. In this way， this traditional art can develop into the new era，” said Li Kuan. He said the club doesnt aim to make a profit but acts as a vehicle to draw audiences to enjoy the charm of traditional crosstalk. Ticket prices for his clubs shows are highly affordable. There are two different ticket prices， 50 yuan （$7.5） or 100 yuan （$15）， based on different seating zones， with drinks included. On occasion， the club even gives out free tickets to attract a greater audience. When the cost of renting theaters is subtracted， the club can pay only a very limited salary to its members.

“Our performers are all diehard fans of this traditional art. Some of them have other jobs， and they come to my club only for the valuable opportunity to perform in a theater and to attain experience，”said Li Kuan. His own performing partner is the student of a well-known Peking Opera performer. Traditional crosstalk requires actors to be able to interact with the audience and nimbly adjust their performances through close coordination with their partners， which calls for ample experience of performing live， he said.

Song Xiaofeng and Jiang Shaofeng are two young players in Li Kuans club. They are the protégés of performers who themselves honed their craft under Li Jindou. Song was born in 1990 in north Chinas Hebei Province and Jiang was born 1987 in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province. In the beginning， both of them were merely avid fans of their masters.

“I was obsessed with my masters performances and asked him to teach me as his disciple. But my master required that I spend over a year in different theaters as a free audience member to train my sense of this art first. Then he believed I would be a qualified disciple and accepted me，” recalled Jiang.

By day， Jiang is a performer in a large-scale amusement park. He is still a trainee. Song has been performing in the club since it was founded. He also has a job at a wedding planning company.“The club has provided precious opportunities for young performers like me. The guidance of those successful crosstalk masters， even on very simple issues， can be of lifelong benefit to us，” Song said.

To Song and Jiang， their daytime jobs are merely a way of meeting their everyday needs so they can continue to pursue their true passion of performing crosstalk. Their most fervent desire now is to attain more income from performing crosstalk so that they may concentrate on refining their skills in a performing art with which they have fallen in love.