The Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu A Case Study of Yang Mingkun and His Repertoire LIU LIU 劉 琉 Faculty of Arts and Social Science The University of Sydney A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu Abstract Yangzhou pinghua is a genre of Chinese chantefables. It is a living tradition with a history of more than 300 years and is listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage. The present research project is designed primarily as a case study of the Yangzhou pinghua performance of Rogue Pi Wu by Yang Mingkun, the ninth-generation heir of the Pu School of Pi Wu. This study combines methods borrowed from anthropological, linguistic, and literary fields to examine the history and performance of the Yangzhou pinghua repertoire of Rogue Pi Wu. Through observing both the performance tradition of the Pu School and the repertoire of Rogue Pi Wu performed by Yang, this study finds that the Yangzhou dialect acts as a special channel through which Yang communicates with his audiences in a most effective and intimate way. This study also finds that Yang develops a powerful narrative strategy by skilfully integrating oral narrative with written narrative into a coherent whole. Based on these findings, among others, I argue that Yang acheives a special aesthetic effect for his version of Rogue Pi Wu by creatively preserving and developing the Pu School of Pi Wu. ii / 251 The Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... ii List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... vii ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Yangzhou: The Birth Place of Yangzhou Storytelling .................................................. 2 1.2 The Basis of the Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu ........................................... 11 1.3 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 18 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 30 TWO ...................................................................................................................................... 34 The Pu School of Pi Wu ....................................................................................................... 34 2.1 The Pu School of Pi Wu in History .............................................................................. 35 2.2 Sources of Inspiration for Pu Lin’s Creation ............................................................... 66 2.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 76 THREE ................................................................................................................................. 77 Performance Space and the Audience ................................................................................ 77 3.1 Yang Mingkun and the Pi Wu Story House ................................................................. 78 3.2 The Tradition of Yangzhou Story House ..................................................................... 83 3.3 The Development of Audience in Yangzhou Storytelling ........................................... 98 3.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 105 FOUR .................................................................................................................................. 106 Narrative Features in Yang Mingkun’s Performance .................................................... 106 4.1 Preservation ................................................................................................................ 107 4.2 Enrichment through Addition and Reduction ............................................................ 116 4.3 The Narration of Pi Wu in Yang’s Story ................................................................... 136 4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 142 iii / 251 The Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu FIVE .................................................................................................................................... 144 Phonetic and Syntactic Features of Yang Mingkun’s Performance Language ............ 144 5.1 Phonetic Features of Yang’s Performance Language ................................................ 145 5.2 Syntactic Features of Yang’s Performance Language ............................................... 156 5.3 Historical-linguistic Value of Yang’s Performance Language .................................. 165 5.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 172 SIX ....................................................................................................................................... 173 Lexical Features of Yang Mingkun’s Performance Language ...................................... 173 6.1 Diction........................................................................................................................ 174 6.2 Nong, Yalibuyaxia, Guaiguailongdidong and Huolodo ............................................. 182 6.3 Comedic Elements ..................................................................................................... 188 6.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 209 SEVEN ................................................................................................................................ 210 The Features of Acting by Yang Mingkun ...................................................................... 210 7.1 Speaking Styles .......................................................................................................... 211 7.2 Mouth Acrobatics, Look, Hand, Body and Step ........................................................ 217 7.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 225 EIGHT ................................................................................................................................ 227 A Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 227 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 231 iv / 251 The Yangzhou Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu List of Tables Table 2.1 Members of the Pu School ......................................................................... 37 Table 4.1 Length of the three versions of texts ........................................................ 107 Table 4.2 Shared episodes ........................................................................................ 110 Table 4.3 Proportion of the various narratives ......................................................... 115 Table 4.4 Comparison of episodes in each unit ....................................................... 122 Table 4.5 Shared events ........................................................................................... 124 Table 5.1 Phonetic realisation of zh-, ch-, sh- and z-, c-, s- ..................................... 146 Table 5.2 Phonetic realisation of n- and l- ............................................................... 147 Table 5.3 Phonetic realisation of r- .......................................................................... 148 Table 5.4 Phonetic realisation of -ng and -n ............................................................ 148 Table 5.5 Syllables with two phonetic realisations in Yang’s diction ..................... 150 Table 5.6 Set of abbreviated realisations of disyllable by Yang .............................. 151 Table 5.7 Phonological system of the Yangzhou dialect ......................................... 152 Table 5.8 Initial realisation [n-] and [l-]................................................................... 153 Table 5.9 Finals in the Beijing dialect ..................................................................... 154 Table 5.10 -zi in Yang’s diction ............................................................................... 157 Table 5.11 -tou in Yang’s diction ............................................................................ 158 Table 5.12 Collocations of verb chi ......................................................................... 159 Table 5.13 Disyllabic and trisyllabic reduplication words in Yang’s diction .......... 161 Table 5.14 Address forms in Yang’s diction ........................................................... 161 Table 5.15 Reduplication