Xiaorehun News-telling

Xiaorehun, commonly known as "Vendor Crying Ligao Candy", is popular in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. It is also called Small Gong Story-Telling.

The art originated from street tabloid news-telling in Hangzhou in the lateQing Dynasty. At that time, a local tabloid named Chaobao is not good at its print quality. The newspaper salesmen would strike a small gong and read out the major news from the paper to attract customers, hence Chaobao-telling.

Later, folk artists made improvements on it and changed it into a folk art of telling and singing news. The libretto was easy to understand and witty, and the vocal music was the widely-known folk songs and melodies. Because of this, it won the favor of the people.

In 1905, Du Baolin used the news telling and singing to sell Ligao candy. He shifted the content from news and interesting stories of everyday happenings to stories with simple plots, roles, and conflicts. Most of his programs expressed his discontent with society and he was often driven away by officials.

To avoid being punishedby the government, he named his art form, Xiaorenhun, meaning it was just nonsense from an insane actor. The way of performing it was finalized as one person beating the small gong and singing and assisting with some talking.

Over time, Du Baolin further improved Xiaorehun by using ventriloquism, imitating dialects of other areas and sounds of animals. Up to now, Xiaorehun has been passed down through six generations who are still active on stage. But most of the successors are old and many traditional repertoires need to be recorded and sorted out.