Storytelling

Storytelling is a form of folk art enjoyed by almost all Xianzhou residents. It's an extremely simple art form: One person, one fan, and one gavel on stage, with a full house listening on. That's all you need to know about this ancient art.

Storytelling themes fall into three categories: Legendary stories, historical epics, and urban banter. Legendary stories divide tales into supernatural, mystery, and chivalry. Historical epics, meanwhile, divide tales into imperial, heroic, and villainous. Urban banter tales don't really have their own subcategories, and focus instead on those small, everyday stories — particularly humorous ones.

Storytelling may look simple enough, but there are in fact many different ways of doing it. My humble style is at least 600 years old, but when an ignorant junior asks me, "Mr. Xiyan, do you know how to perform storytelling?" I could only answer, cheekily: "Barely."

All you need to tell stories is your mouth, but you can't just leave people there "listening" to a boring story. No, a storyteller lets you see, feel, and smell each little detail. Even though you're just sitting there, I have to take you along with me, so it feels like you were immersed in this story. For example, if you're talking about a treacherous battle some 5000 years ago — one you weren't around to see, heck, I wasn't even around back then. You want to leave feeling as though you were an eyewitness who just escaped the perils of the frontline.

But really, it's impossible to get a sense of it no matter how lively I might describe things to you. You're better off going into the Sleepless Earl and catching one of my humble performances: Then, you'll eventually get it.

It's okay if I don't have a show that day. Any show performed at the Sleepless Earl will leave you feeling satisfied. As for other precious Xianzhou folk art forms out there, we will continue discussions below.