Chinese storytelling has a long and in many ways unique history as a professional art. The term "storytelling" is a translation of the broad Chinese term "Quyi," which literally means "The Art of Melody". This term is used now to include all spoken and sung genres of the performing arts, excluding opera and drama.
Bai Suzhen (Susan Blader, b. 1943) is a tenured professor in the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages at Dartmouth College in the United States, specializing in Chinese language and Chinese cultural history. She is one of the earliest American sinologists to study Chinese commentary and popular literature. This website documents her work in collecting and teaching the art of storytelling to her students, and also documents the performances of renowned storytellers of China.
In early March 2016, Bai Suzhen, Bao Chengjie, and Cai Yuanli (storytelling artists from China) finally met at Bai Suzhen's home at Dartmouth College. Facing Bai Suzhen, Shi Qingzhao started editing and processing Chinese storytelling art videos that he shot in 1982 and lasted for more than 30 years. These videos include performances and lectures, some in China and some in the United States. Read more about these artists's bios on the Credits page.
Some of them have been damaged due to poor preservation over a long period of time. Among more than 100 videotapes, we picked out a small number of tapes with classic content, digitized and edited them, added subtitles, pictures, and wrote descriptions to the actors and works. In three and a half months, the preliminary editing of this nearly 30-hour video for audiences in the United States and China was completed. Looking back at the simple stage when we filmed it, and looking at the video processing we did our best today, although it is undecorated, it records history. We hope to bring a little beauty to the viewers and leave a unique historical memory. This is also a mark left on the road we have walked.
Now, the videos that have survived are published on this website to share the wonderful intricacies and artistry of Chinese storytelling with the world.
