投稿類別：英文寫作類

篇名： An Analysis of the Development of in 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 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 , like The Night Night Show (博恩夜夜秀), a popular talk show hosted by a stand-up , Brian Tseng. He successfully arouses people's attention, especially Gen Z, by making political , 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 , 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 , 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 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 (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

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 (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 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 , 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. 3. To enrich Xiangsheng, performers need to learn from stand-up comedy. One is a wide variety of topics, and the other is the scale. 4. Xiangsheng performers should try various methods, keep the basic format, take itself as the starting point, instead of presenting dramatically, try to make cross talk as diverse as possible under these frameworks.

II.3.1.3 The members of NTU Cross Talk Club

1. Current events are good materials for the contents of Xiangsheng to attract Gen Zers. 2. They agree with Huang’s point that the duanzis should be more open and diverse. 3. To Gen Zers, the contents of the duanzis can be combined with the campus life or relative living spheres. 4. They consider holding public performance and performing on the street are effective ways of attracting the public.

II.3.2 Localization and modernization of Xiangsheng

Taiwan’s Xiangsheng may no longer be purely a manifestation of Chinese mainland culture. The time and space set by the content of the Xiangsheng are not confined to Chinese historical dynasties or Chinese positions anymore. The possibility is the nature of the localization of Xiangsheng (Su, 2018). Undoubtedly, Xiangsheng is more and more localized. Materials are no longer confined to Chinese histories or Chinese articles but combined with many Taiwanese local factors.

Take "" as an example. Peking opera was an important element in Xiangsheng in the past like in the Wei Lung Hao and Wu Chao Nan's show. But nowadays, Taiwanese opera or even Chinese and Taiwanese pop music are included in the performance. Also, without a clear articulation of Mandarin, different languages, including Taiwanese, Hakka, and English, are integrated into the performance. Examples can be found in Taiwan Aboriginal (台灣原人) (performed by Shung Shao Chin ( 宋少卿) and Feng Yi Kang, published by the Comedians Workshop) and Brother’s Conversation 2010 (兄弟對話 2010 版) (performed by Chen Ching Sheng (陳慶昇) and Chu Te Kang (朱德剛), published by the Taipei Quyi Group)

5

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

Picture 1: The Night We Became Hsiang-Sheng Comedian (Source: Performance Workshop)

Picture 2: The scene of “Taiwan NO.1” (Source: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyTW9aJlWw&t=303s)

II.3.3 The decline of Xiangsheng since the 90s

After that (The Night We Became Hsiang-Sheng Comedian publicized), Xiangsheng became a fashion. Xiangsheng actors have sought to come back...... A variety of teaching, competitions, camps and other activities of Xiangsheng have also become active.” (Su, 2018) However, Xiangsheng starts declining between Gen Zers. The possible reasons are as follows. 1. the popularity of western stand-up comedy With the changing of time, nobody would drink tea in an old tea house. Instead, people drink wine and beer in the club and that is how stand-up comedy emerged. However, stand-up comedy is different from Xiangsheng because it is full of political , life experience, and sex. But those are not the main points. The biggest difference between stand-up comedy and Xiangsheng is “interaction”. In Xiangsheng, the actor usually would not interact with audiences. Yet, stand-up comedians are highly attentive to interacting. 2. the duanzis are too long and old After Lai’s creative and time transgressive performing type, Xiangsheng has evolved and is more art-oriented. The famous duanzis of Xiangsheng after the 90s mostly are long and coherent. Those are about half an hour or more on average (traditional one is about ten minutes on average). Most of the people are busy nowadays, and they seldom go to the theater to watch a performance. Besides, according to the analysis of Google, people's favorite length of videos is "three minutes." (Gemarketing, 2016) 3. the popularity of social media and video sharing platform More and more people around the world post their videos on the Internet. This creates varietal forms of comedy and funny videos. The 21st century is the age of technological explosion; people seldom spend time watching performances in the theaters. (Nielsen, 2015) 6

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

II.4 Current promotion strategies of Xiangsheng

In recent years, there has been a decline in Xiangsheng. To boost the popularity of Xiangsheng, many people who are in favor of the art dedicate themselves to passing the art of Xiangsheng on. Many performing groups hold a lot of events, including performing on stage, offering courses, lectures, workshops, and summer or winter camps. Take Taipei Quyi Group as an example. They hold various camps and workshops for young people to promote Xiangsheng. Three main ways of promotion are as follows.

II.4.1 Social media

In recent years, social media has developed widely. Take YouTube as an example. It has become a platform for marketing creators’ artworks. They can convey their ideas and creativity to the citizens via the Internet. The actor, Huang Yi Hao, has said that he is glad to help people realize what Xiangsheng is via YouTube, and he also considers that this is a great approach to make Xiangsheng flourishing, which means this is a good way for popularization. Huang would post his videos of speaking Xiangsheng to arouse people's interest in this traditional art. Nonetheless, Feng Yi Kang holds a different perception. He regards that Xiangsheng creators shouldn't post their performance videos on the social media in that Xiangsheng is an art, and people have to go inside the theater to watch actors speaking and performing on the stage.

II.4.2 Education

In addition to social media, passing Xiangsheng on via education is also one of the approaches. Like the statement above, Taipei Quyi Group offers a lot of lessons every year. Those lessons are mainly held for students. These approaches might seem feasible to pass Xiangsheng on; however, it is one of the most tradition-oriented types of around the world. Huang Yi Hao affirms that holding courses is a way to effectively nurturing a group of people that realize and like in this art. Yet, this is not a good way to training professional actors. He also considers posting performances online is better than taking courses to popularize since the people learning Xiangsheng in classes are still in minority.

II.4.3 Transforming ways of performance and content

II.4.3.1 The part of the performance

Some research and actors regard that Xiangsheng dramatization is a feasible approach to marketing the art. The ex-head of Taipei Quyi Group, Liu Tseng Kai (劉增鍇), classifies the evolution of Xiangsheng in Taiwan in three parts, Naturalization — “KMT government moved to Taiwan” (1949-1960s), Decline — “The flourish of Taiwanese economy” (the 1960s-1990s), Newborn — “Xiangsheng starting to dramatize” (after 1990s) respectively (Liu,2001). “Chang Fei is coming don’t be scared” (張飛要來了別害怕) is one of the famous duanzis of the Comedians Workshop, but the content originated from an ancient duanzi called Yellow Crane Tower (黃鶴樓). This shows that traditional Xiangsheng is not suitable to present society; the problem is how to renovate it. Nevertheless, Huang Yi Hao takes a converse point. He deems that “dramatization” is beyond the origination of Xiangsheng. Because the form of it is the emphasis on simplicity (Wu, 2012). Besides, National Taiwan University (NTU) Cross Talk Club usually performs Xiangsheng on the street just like the actors in the Qing Dynasty. They state it can get good effects to introduce Xiangsheng and bring happiness to the public.

II.4.3.2 The part of the duanzi 7

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

Changing the contents of duanzis is one of the ways of promoting Xiangsheng. The specialty of folk art is combined with people’s life (Liu, 2001). According to the interview, Huang Yi Hao, Feng Yi Kang, and NTU Cross Talk Club all think that Xiangsheng has to “live” in modern times. Adding Taiwanese is one of the means of localization, but there are more to go. Apart from Localization, duanzis also have to combine with current events or jokes of Generation Z. The people born after 2000 have the generation gap with this art because of the contents. Huang thinks that traditional contents are not stimulating and open to the current audiences, that is why he combines the stand-up comedy with Xiangsheng. Putting political jokes, news, and experiences of life can make Xiangsheng become a topic in the people of Generation Z.

III. Conclusion

The traditional art must be popularized to the public instead of being preserved to the minority. In today’s global village, the traditional art in Taiwan is facing the westernization and modernization, and Xiangsheng must change its forms of presentation, and diversify its content. Based on my research and interviews, below are my suggestions.

First of all, the selection of Xiangsheng topics needs to aim for Gen Z. Xiangsheng performers have to study Gen Z, to understand what they care about the most, and then produce the duanzis that interest them. For example, LGBTQ, epidemic outbreak, Taiwan presidential election, and political jokes have become the most searched keywords on Google. With the combination of the above topics, it will easily arouse young people's attention and increase the visibility of Xiangsheng among Gen Z.

Moreover, we can also increase the exposure of Xiangsheng performance by engaging all sorts of online and offline activities. Make sure the videos of Xiangsheng performance can easily be accessed on all social media platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, where Gen Z spends most of their time to learn and share information. If they like the performance, they will be glad to share with their friends. As a result, Xiangsheng videos will go viral and been seen by more Gen Zers. In addition to social media, holding flash mob events and outdoor performances are potential and feasible approaches. Performing on the street is just like what the Xiangsheng performers did in Qing Dynasty. Such outdoor performances can increase awareness, and attract the public, which enables people to discuss and share. The performance groups can also join the non-profit organizations to hold charitable activities or cooperate with the government to publicize measures.

Finally, it's very important to establish communities, including online and offline ones, to unite the fans of Xiangsheng. Through Facebook groups and YouTube channels, Xiangsheng fans can share, discuss and learn various related information and knowledge from each other. Also, setting up space like clubs or cafés physically is good for the fans to get together. People can practice jokes, enjoy Xiangsheng's performance, make friends, and drink beverages there. Some amateur and professional Xiangsheng actors can perform there while hanging out and drinking with their fans, like "Two Three Comedy," a cozy club for the stand-up comedy, and its performers and fans.

With easy access to Xiangsheng and diverse topics, we can lower the threshold and popularize the art of Xiangsheng.

IV. References

Books: Feng, Y. K., Sung, S. C., & Comedians Workshop. (2000). Works of Comedians Workshop. Taipei: Yang-Chih Book Co., Ltd. 8

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

台北曲藝團（2015）。這 Young 玩說唱。臺北市：幼獅文化。

馬景賢（2009）。說相聲，學語文。臺北市：小魯文化。

馮翊綱 （2017）。弄。臺北市：聯經。

賴聲川（1986）。賴聲川舞台作品集 1：那一夜、我們說相聲。臺灣：皇冠。

Newspaper:

Kaye, L. (1990). Acts of Defiance. Far Eastern Economic Review, pp. 28-29.

Theses: Liu, C. N. (2015). The Research on "Collective Memory" of Crosstalk Performances in Taiwan ―Using the Example of Performance Workshop and Comedians Workshop (Master’s thesis). Department of Chinese Literature, National Chung Hsing University. R.O.C. (Taiwan)

Wu, P. L. (2012). From Actor’s Self to Cross-talk Characters (Master’s thesis). Department of Drama, National Taiwan University of Arts. R.O.C. (Taiwan)

Yang, Z. T. (2017). Gender and sexual orientation prejudices in humor: A case study of live stand-up comedy in Taiwan mandarin (Master’s thesis). National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of Linguistics. R.O.C. (Taiwan)

巫永鴻（2005）。台灣相聲劇研究──以【表演工作坊】與【相聲瓦舍】為例。國立東華大 學中國語文學系研究所：碩士論文。

楊之果（2015）。從表演工作坊早期相聲劇看外省第二代國族認同軌跡─以 1985 到 1991 為 範圍。世新大學中國文學系：碩士論文。

劉增鍇（2001）。大陸曲藝近五十年在台灣之發展。國立花蓮師範學院民間文學研究所：碩 士論文。

蘇暄方（2018）。相聲劇與本土化：以相聲瓦舍相聲劇為研究對象。國立東華大學臺灣文化 學系：碩士論文。

Websites: Gemarketing. (2016). GOOGLE 透露台灣網友最喜歡的影片長度：三分鐘！. Retrieved January 30, 2020, from https://www.gemarketing.com.tw/relatnews/google%E9%80%8F%E9%9C%B2%E5%8F%B0%E7 %81%A3%E7%B6%B2%E5%8F%8B%E6%9C%80%E5%96%9C%E6%AD%A1%E7%9A%84% E5%BD%B1%E7%89%87%E9%95%B7%E5%BA%A6%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%89%E5%88%8 6%E9%90%98%EF%BC%81/

李欣恬（2018）。葉怡均評書相聲 擦出兩岸新火花。中時電子報。2019 年 12 月 25 日，取 自：https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180116000106-260301?chdtv

9

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

李彤（2014）。進入“休眠期”的相聲前路仍漫漫。人民網，第 29 期。2020 年 1 月 1 日，取 自：http://history.people.com.cn/peoplevision/BIG5/n/2014/0911/c389036-25644582.html

表演工作坊。2020 年 1 月 12 日，取自： http://www.pwshop.com/portfoliocht/zhttheater/%E9%80%99%E4%B8%80%E5%A4%9C%EF% BC%8C%E8%AA%B0%E4%BE%86%E8%AA%AA%E7%9B%B8%E8%81%B2%EF%BC%9F %EF%BC%881989%EF%BC%89/

郭士榛。「上臺。下臺 一鞠躬 - 吳兆南相聲劇藝社快樂傳承」。2020 年 1 月 30 日。取自： https://magazine.ncfta.gov.tw/onlinestoryarticle_121_19.html

Interview: Feng, Y. K. Personal interview. 2020, March 19. The office of the Comedians Workshop.

Huang, Y. H. Telephone interview. 2020, March 17.

The members of NTU Cross Talk Club. Personal interview. 2020, March 19. The student center of National Taiwan University.

Research Report:

The Nielsen Company (2015). Taiwan Consumer Generation Lifestyle. Taiwan: The Nielsen Company.

10