Professional storytelling traditions in the Lower Yangzi Region of China date back hundreds of years. The cities of Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou are associated with respective styles of storytelling. This page deals mostly with the Suzhou styles, known collectively as pingtan. This term, dating to the 1950's, refers to two distinct types of performance, both performed in storytelling houses. The older style is known as Suzhou pinghua ("straight narrative") and features a single performer who relates his or her tale in a combinaton of narration and dialogue without musical accompaniment. The stories usually feature tales of military heroes, bands of Robin Hood-like outlaws, and tales from Chinese history. The other style is Suzhou tanci (Suzhou chantefable), related in prosimetric form, often by a pair of performers. The stories tend to concern love affairs between "gifted scholars and beautiful ladies" (caizi jiaren). Stories are told in a mixture of dialogue, narration, and singing. The pipa-lute and the sanxian-banjo are played by the storytellers during the singing roles. Presently, both styles are performed daily in special storyhouses for audiences of middle-aged and elderly patrons, who enjoy sipping tea as they listen. Today, most stories last two weeks, two hours each day. Traditionally some pinghua stories might last a year.  (ie.Ying-ying Plays the Qin)

For more information on Chinese storytelling in the Lower Yangzi see: Mark Bender (2003). Plum and Bamboo: China's Suzhou Chantefable Tradition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. For media recordings, go to: pingtan.com.cn