| dc.description.abstract | As a unique style in the talking and singing arts, Kuaiban originated from the beggar behavior of Lotus Song (Lianhua Lao in Chinese) during the Tang and Song Dynasties. After the long process of evolution through several dynasties such as the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, etc, the art based on rhythmic storytelling with clapper accompaniment became a way of subsistence for beggars and an art skill for folk artists. In the Qing Dynasty, it became the main begging method for Beggars’’ Sect in Beijing, which was called Shulaibao. In the end of the Qing Dynasty, the beggars who could perform Shulaibao developed into the largest branch of Beijing Beggars’’ Sect, performing improvisationally door by door. After the establishment of the Republic of China, some beggar artists of Shulaibao entered into the civilian recreation market which was quite prevalent at that time, changing into folk talking and singing artists who performed at certain places. Experiencing reformations by several generations, Shulaibao was integrated with other talking and singing arts, and developed into various Kuaiban styles with more artistic temperament. Ever since then, the Kuaiban storytelling (Story-telling with Bamboo Clappers) derived from Shulaibao has formally become one of the arts of talking and singing.
Until 1950s, Shulaibao artists began to examine this kind of art based on the long-term performing experience, producing a new kind of artistic reformation. Based on Shulaibao, it re-integrated some arts such as Storytelling(Pingshu in Chinese), Comic Dialogue(Xiangsheng in Chinese), and Shandong Clapper Ballad(Shandong Kuaiban in Chinese), and created a new sort of Quyi - Kuaiban Storytelling-combining the clapper accompaniment of Shulaibao and the storytelling style of Storytelling, which emphasized on both talking and performing. Moreover, the Kuaiban Storytelling insists on its own features of terseness and popularity, creating the aesthetics atmosphere mixed with the stage setting. During the process of succession and study by the later generation of artists, Wang Feng-shan, Gao Feng-shan and Li Run-jie developed three genres of Kuaiban Storytelling, with unique feature respectively. The peace and lentitude of Wang, the clearness and briskness of Gao and the fervency and blunting of Li present together various artistic styles of Kuaiban Storytelling.
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