Keeping the Ci in Fengci: A Brief History of the Chinese Verbal Art of Xiangsheng

Abstract

The Chinese verbal art of xiangsheng 相聲 is one of a number of Chinese oral performance literature forms in the category of shuochang yishu, “speaking and singing arts.” The most common format is a kind of rapid-fire humorous dialogue between a “straight man” and a jokester, who explore topics as varied as Peking Opera, folk customs, and social issues. When Mao took power in 1949, xiangsheng was cleansed of “unhealthy” or “feudal” content and incorporated into the propaganda agenda of the arts, used as a tool for education and indoctrination. Humor and satire being the core of xiangsheng performance, the art form often fell afoul of the censors as it attempted to balance the Party’s requirement to edify with the audience’s preference for robust satire. This chapter traces the path of xiangsheng in its quest to retain its relevance and popularity as it negotiated the changing political winds of post-1949 China, the Reform and Opening-up period, and the present age of the Internet.