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An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng Among Generation Z

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An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng Among Generation Z 投稿類別：英文寫作類 篇名： An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng among Generation Z 作者： 郭冠霆。臺北市立西松高中。高二忠班 指導老師： 王怡樺 老師 王婧 老師 An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng among Generation Z I. Introduction I.1 Motivation The principal focus of this paper is to study Xiangsheng, also known as Cross Talk, a traditional Chinese performing art, composed of four skills, including speaking (說), imitating (學), teasing (逗), and singing (唱). The following are the reasons why I choose Xiangsheng as a topic. First, I am a big fan of Xiangsheng. When I was 11, my mother sent me to a summer camp held by Taipei Quyi Group (台北曲藝團). It was a youth program specified in the study and learning of Xiangsheng. I learned various performing skills from Taiwan’s modern Xiangsheng performers, like Shie Shiau Ling (謝小 玲), and Wu Pei Ling (吳佩凌). Their performance and teaching made me realize the beauty of traditional Chinese performing art. Since then, I became interested in Xiangsheng. Secondly, like other traditional arts in the world, Xiangsheng is losing its audience. Nowadays, young people, especially the Generation Z, seldom watch Xiangsheng and even don't know what it is. Instead, they love the stand-up comedy, like The Night Night Show (博恩夜夜秀), a popular talk show hosted by a stand-up comedian, Brian Tseng. He successfully arouses people's attention, especially Gen Z, by making political jokes, and talking about hot and spicy topics, such as the LGBT and same-sex marriage. I would like to find out if there is any strategy for Xiangsheng performers to attract young people and make the traditional performing art a hit. According to Yeh Yi Chun (葉怡均), the leader of Taipei Quyi Group, “Taiwan currently has fewer professionals engaged in performing arts, and the audience is relatively small” (Li, 2018). This is also the reason that I choose the study of Xiangsheng as my thesis topic. I expect such a beautiful performing art can not only be introduced to young people of the same age as me, but also be passed on generation after generation. I.2 Purpose The central purpose of this paper is to explore the origin and the development of Xiangsheng and to find out the ways to introduce it to the youth. I expect the public, especially Generation Z, can enjoy not only western stand-up comedy but also Chinese comedy, which is Xiangsheng. I.3 Methodology I.3.1 Literature review I.3.2 Online information I.3.3 Interview To learn more about Xiangsheng, I interviewed experts, who are also well-known Xiangsheng performers, to seek professional opinions from their different perspectives of the performing art. They are from three different generations: Feng Yi Kang, Huang Yi Hao, and the members of National Taiwan University (NTU) Cross Talk Club. The main interviewee is the head of the club. I.3.3.1 Feng Yi Kang (馮翊綱) 2 An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng among Generation Z The head of the Comedians Workshop (相聲瓦舍), Associate Professor of the Department of Music and General Studies, National Taiwan Normal University, and Department of Drama, National Taipei University of Arts. I.3.3.2 Huang Yi Hao (黃逸豪) He states himself as the only professional actor in Taiwan's Xiangsheng, as well as the greatest stand-up comedian after the 80s. Also, he is one of the members of the Taipei Ouyi Group. I.3.3.3 The members of National Taiwan University (NTU) Cross Talk Club (台大說唱藝術社) Established in 1999 by NTU students, NTU Cross Talk Club is the only Xiangsheng club in colleges and universities nationwide. Its purpose is to "promote and market the art of Xiangsheng, continuously perform Xiangsheng on campus to spread laughter, and provide training for NTU students who are interested in Xiangsheng. NTU Cross Talk Club now has entered its 21st years. I.4 Definition of Terms I.4.1 Xiangsheng (相聲) A form of the oriental comedy is also known as Chinese cross-talk, crosstalk, cross-talking. It is one of the most popular and influential types of Quyi in the Chinese world, appearing in Peking in Xianfeng Emperor (1851-1861), Qing Dynasty. The four main elements are Speaking, Imitating, Teasing, and Singing. And it can be categorized by the number of the performers: Dankou Xiangsheng (單口相聲), Duikou Xiangsheng (對口相聲), and Qunkou Xiangsheng(群口相聲). Dankou Xiangsheng involves one performer. Duikou Xiangsheng and Qunkou Xiangsheng involve two men, and three men or more, respectively. Categorized by time, it can also be separated into three parts: Before 1949 — Traditional Xiangsheng, 1949-1980 — New Xiangsheng, After 1980 — Contemporary Xiangsheng. (Wu, 2012) I.4.2 Quyi (曲藝) A general name of the traditional Chinese performing art composed of Xiangsheng, Kuaiban (快 板), Taiping lyrics (太平歌詞), Shuanghuang (雙簧), and Shulaibao (數來寶), etc. I.4.3 Duanzi (段子) This word means the scripts of the performance. Xiangsheng takes "speaking" very seriously, so the quality and the interestedness of the duanzis will affect the whole performance. I.4.4 Generation Z Generation Z, known as Gen Z or Gen Zers, are people born between 1996 and 2012. They are digital natives spending most of the time on social media and are used to learning or gaining information from social-media- and video-based platforms. (Nielsen, 2015) II. Body II.1 The history of Xiangsheng in China 3 An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng among Generation Z Generally speaking, the origin of Xiangsheng can be traced back to the performance of a famous court jester (PAI YU), Dong Fang Shuo (東方朔) (154 B.C.- 93 B.C.) in Han Dynasty. However, nothing can be found to attest to the above saying. The statement that Xiangsheng started from the Qing Dynasty is more correct. According to some related records, it is believed that Chang San Lu(張 三祿) from the Qing Dynasty was a performer of the octagonal drum formerly, and he started to perform Xiangsheng later. Differently, professionals from the Xiangsheng field usually view Chu Shao Wen(朱紹文) as their first master. After the People Republic of China was established in 1949, Xiangsheng was changed into catering to the Communist Party. In 1958, the era of the General line of socialist construction, a large number of the performances of glorifying the leaders appeared. Subsequently, the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) began, Xiangsheng was almost forcibly disappeared. In the 21st century, Kuo Te Kang (郭德綱) thinks outside the box and rewrites a lot of Xiangsheng Duanzi. Different from the traditional Xiangsheng performed in Old Peking teahouse, Kuo leads Xiangsheng to a new world in China. II.2 The history of Xiangsheng in Taiwan In 1949, the KMT authorities came to Taiwan, bringing a lot of militaries and their families. Therein, some of them, like Wei Lung Hoa (魏龍豪) and Wu Chao Nan (吳兆南), became interested in Xiangsheng and promoted it in Taiwan. Firstly, the main audiences are mainland Chinese. Xiangsheng was not rooted in Taiwan until 1949 since Mandarin, the language used in Xiangsheng, was not popular among Taiwanese people. It was in 1985 that Performance Workshop (表演工作坊) introduced a stage show. The Performance Workshop published The Night We Became Hsiang-Sheng Comedians (那一夜，我們說相聲), which deeply influenced the art of Xiangsheng. Since then, the traditional Xiangsheng performance has become more like a stage show. In 1989, “Look Who’s Cross- Talking (這一夜，誰來說相聲)” was introduced. It was performed by Li Li Chun (李立群), Chin Shih Chieh (金士傑), and Chen Li Hua (陳立華), directed by Stan Lai (賴聲川). Since then, Xiangsheng has started to be flourishing. It was reported, “ Lai's ‘Look Who's Cross-Talking’ is a cerebral three-man political cabaret in the stand-up comedy style of an Old Peking teahouse. The play acidly etches the parallels between the face-saving hypocrisies of Nationalist Taiwan and the murderous righteousness of communist China” (Kaye, 1990). Subsequently, Taipei Quyi Group, founded in 1993, performed Quyi, including Xiangsheng, and provided training programs. II.3 Current situation analysis of Xiangsheng in Taiwan II.3.1 Interview Summary To explore more about the current situations, the researcher conducted several interviews. The summaries are as follows. II.3.1.2 Feng Yi Kang 1. Xiangsheng is a part of drama, and it is indivisible. 2. Different actors have to perform different duanzis so that various forms can be preserved. 3. Although traditional duanzis is used, it must be made more artistic in the theater. 4. The specialty of Taiwanese culture is that it blends Chinese culture, Japanese culture, and American culture. This means that people should not exclude Chinese culture or any other culture. 5. The contents of Xiangsheng should be creative, without any limitation from the past. 4 An Analysis of the Development of Xiangsheng in Taiwan and Ways to Popularize the Art of Xiangsheng among Generation Z 6. He regards audiences should go inside the theaters to enjoy Xiangsheng, rather than watching the shows via the Internet. Moreover, he thinks that social media are harmful to theaters since people can use the Internet to watch the show. II.3.1.2 Huang Yi Hao 1. Good artwork must come from life. 2. The art of Xiangsheng should be based on a large number of actors and audiences. In this way, there is a space for improvement, but what Taiwan is facing now is that there is a gap between audiences and actors.
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