Chinese Folklore and Popular Culture

Classical poetry, lengthy romances such as Dream of the Red Chamber, and drama dominate accepted views of Chinese literature. However, a massive body of oral literature exists both in written forms and living traditions of oral performance. Many works that began as items of folklore in local areas were adapted into print mediums in the popular culture as print technology grew from around the 15th century onward. In more-recent times, electronic mass media have allowed for a wider variety of adaptations with new audiences. Scholarly interest in folk literature extends back to the age of Confucius with the Book of Odes (Shijing 诗经) in the 4th century BCE, as well as to the Han period, when the Music Bureau was set up to monitor song and music throughout the realm. Centuries later, in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), scholars such as Feng Menglong gathered stories and songs from storytellers and singers, compiling them in written collections and often rewriting them to fit conventions of the page. By the early 20th century, especially during the May Fourth movement of the 1920s–1930s, influences of Western and Japanese folklorists—a new profession at the time—helped raise interest among the emerging modern scholars in China about the vast but underappreciated body of folklore and vernacular culture. During the latter half of the 20th century, huge collections of oral literature and folklore, including epic poetry of many ethnic minorities, were made under the auspices of the Chinese government in the 1950s, the 1980s, and again in the 21st century, in conjunction with Intangible Cultural Heritage projects inspired by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Since the early 1980s, large numbers of scholarly books, articles, and anthologies have been published, and many research centers, publishing houses, archives, and museums have been founded in China. In addition, foreign researchers since the 19th century have also produced significant material on Chinese folklore and popular culture, and a number of important collections of Chinese materials reside in Germany, France, England, Holland, Russia, Japan, Scandinavia, Australia, the United States, and other places. This article will stress materials related to oral literature and popular literature with a strong connection to oral traditions, focusing on professional storytelling arts (quyi 曲艺), epic, folk stories, folk songs, folk drama and ritual, and vernacular literature. It regards China as a multiethnic state comprising fifty-six official ethnic groups, including the Han majority, with its distinct regional subcultures, and the other fifty-five groups classified as ethnic minorities, many of which have large numbers of subgroups.

General Overviews

The works cited here represent a kaleidoscope of approaches to Chinese oral, popular, and performing-arts literatures, with foci ranging from a general introduction on Chinese oral traditions, to the effects of People’s Republic of China (PRC) policies toward transformation of the performing arts, to a genre-specific examination of mythology. Duan 2005 offers a historical outline on a spectrum of genres in folk literature as part of China’s intangible cultural heritage, briefly discussing recent collection and preservation efforts of China’s folk literary traditions. Mair and Weinstein 1986 provides a general survey of the history of Chinese folk literature and sources for its study. The Eternal Storyteller (Børdahl 1999) is a collection of works on Chinese oral and oral-related performance traditions, including transcriptions, translations, synopses, and useful bibliographic information on Yangzhou storytelling. Johnson, et al. 1985 establishes a historical context for popular Chinese literature and performing arts, by examining a selection of vernacular literary works and, in particular, the development of the baojuan (宝卷) genre. This collection of works engages the discussion of the symbiotic and dialogic relationships between written and orally performed popular literature. Link, et al. 1989 introduces readers to a mosaic of cultural scenes, emerging problems, and constructed traditions that were not included in the construction of official post–Cultural Revolution-era Chinese culture. McDougall 1984 sheds light on the PRC’s recent attempts at building a new national identity by popularizing elite written culture and the politicization of popular performing culture. Mackerras 1981 introduces readers to the post-1976, post-“Gang of Four” era, and the revival, restoration, and reinvention of various branches of performing arts, including cinema. Mair and Bender 2011 and Yang, et al. 2005 are introductory source books on Chinese folk and popular literature, in English, appealing to a broad audience.

Børdahl, Vibeke, ed. The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Literature in Modern China. Papers presented at the International Workshop on Oral Literature in Modern China, held 29–31 August 1996 in Copenhagen. Studies in Asian Topics 24. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1999.
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Discusses and introduces Chinese storytelling traditions both from Asian and Western perspectives and examines Yangzhou and Suzhou storytelling performance traditions. Chinese transcription of episodes of Yangzhou storytelling and their English translations are included in this work.
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Duan Baolin 段宝林. Zhongguo minjian wenxue gaiyao (中国民间文学概要). Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 2005.
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A historical and categorical introduction to Chinese folk literature and its collection projects within China.
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Johnson, David, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn Rawski, eds. Popular Culture in Late Imperial China. Studies on China 4. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
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A collection of articles on Chinese popular literatures from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Provides historical and cultural contexts of burgeoning Chinese mass literature and engages in a discussion on the connection between written and oral literature.
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Link, Perry, Richard Madsen, and Paul G. Pickowicz, eds. Unofficial China: Popular Culture and Thought in the People’s Republic. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1989.
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This work provides insight into diverse social and cultural issues and the currents that shape Chinese popular culture and society.
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Mackerras, Colin. The Performing Arts in Contemporary China. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.
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A study of China’s post-1979 restoration and reinvention efforts of its national performing arts and cinema.
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Mair, Victor H., and Mark Bender, eds. The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
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The first large-scale anthology of Chinese folk and popular literature published in the West, intended for classroom use. This anthology provides extensive collected and translated folk and popular literatures of Han Chinese and ethnic minorities, with concise and helpful cultural explanations.
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Mair, Victor H., and Maxine Belmont Weinstein. “Folk Literature.” In The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Edited by William H. Nienhauser Jr., Charles Hartman, Y. W. Ma, and Stephen H. West, 75–82. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.
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A general survey of the history of Chinese folk literature and sources for its study. Different categories and genres are considered, from jokes to anecdotes and a wide variety of ballads, narratives, and songs. Special attention is paid to storytelling types and techniques.
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McDougall, Bonnie S., ed. Popular Chinese Literature and the Performing Arts in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1979. Studies on China 2. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
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A collection of essays that outline the general cultural history of China from 1949 to 1979, along with a discussion on China’s transformation of its popular and national culture.
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Yang, Lihui, Deming An, and Jessica Anderson Turner. Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Handbooks of World Mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
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Written in English by Chinese mythologists for a general audience, this important book introduces several famous Han Chinese myths, along with living myths among ethnic groups.
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Journals

A number of journals on Asian studies and regions/countries in East Asia occasionally publish research articles on Chinese folk and popular literature and culture. The journals included here are either entirely dedicated to certain aspects of traditional performance or literature or have devoted considerable space in special issues to topics of relevance. Asian Ethnology is influential due to its long history studying the peoples and cultures of Asia, and many of its articles deal with Chinese material. Wenhua yichan takes on a number of current issues related to the study and preservation of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) traditions. Asian Highlands Perspectives concentrates on the ethnography, literature, and folklore of the western borders of China, particularly Qinghai Province, and contains many pieces written by local inhabitants. Minzu wenxue yanjiu deals with the oral and written literature of China’s many ethnic minority groups. CHIME focuses on traditional Chinese music, regularly including articles on folk songs, storytelling with music, and other such topics, while CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature publishes research articles and translations of Chinese oral narrative arts and drama. Offered both in English and Chinese editions and dealing with a range of international traditions, Oral Tradition occasionally features cutting-edge articles on epic, professional storytelling, and folk song in China.

Asian Ethnology.
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Founded by Jesuits in China and published in Japan since the 1940s, this influential journal was previously known as Asian Folklore Studies. It has a large, freely downloadable, open-access online archive of volumes, to date, many of which include Chinese material.
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Asian Highlands Perspectives.
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Started in 2009, Asian Highlands Perspectives is an ongoing series of publications that includes monographs and journal articles dedicated to ethnography, literature, and folklore of the western borders of China, particularly Qinghai Province. A number of the works are written by inhabitants of the region.
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CHIME.
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Based in the Netherlands, this journal has a focus on traditional Chinese music, regularly including articles on folk songs, storytelling with music, etc. It is associated with the European Foundation for Chinese Music Research.
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CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature.
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Based in the United States, this journal, formerly known as CHINOPERL Papers, has published research articles on Chinese oral narrative arts and drama since 1969 and has come under the umbrella of Maney Publishing and is available online.
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Minzu wenxue yanjiu 民族文学研究.
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One of the foremost of the many journals devoted to folk literature and vernacular culture in China is Minzu wenxue yanjiu (Studies of Ethnic Literature), a journal published by the Institute of Ethnic Literature in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It includes articles on the oral and written literature of China’s many ethnic minority groups.
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Oral Tradition.
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Founded by the late epic scholar John Miles Foley at the University of Missouri, this journal occasionally features cutting-edge articles on epic, professional storytelling, and folk song in China. It is offered both in English and Chinese editions.
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Wenhua yichan 文化遗产.
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Another influential journal is Wenhua yichan (Cultural Heritage), which is devoted to the study of UNESCO-inspired “Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Articles cover folk literature, dance, vernacular architecture, costume, and issues concerning the study and preservation of Chinese traditions, as well as other topics.
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Professional Storytelling Arts (Quyi)

Research on the hundreds of professional and avocational storytelling arts accompanied by music began during the May Fourth movement in China. The works of mid-20th-century scholars who took an interest in Chinese professional storytelling arts include Zhao 1982) (see under Other Storytelling Genres), Zheng 1984) (see under Oral-Connected Prose), and Hu 1984) (see under Baojuan (Precious Scrolls), all of which investigate various local traditions largely via written texts, tending to focus on the history and evolution of what are perceived as related genres. After 1949, other scholars conducted more in-depth research on certain local storytelling styles, and foreign scholars have added significant research more recently. Three subsections of professional storytelling arts are included here: Pingshu, Pinghua, and Tanci deals with storytelling traditions, some with musical accompaniment and others without, in the Suzhou and Yangzhou areas. Baojuan (Precious Scrolls) features written texts that frequently have demonstrated links to oral performance traditions and often concern religiously affiliated narratives. Other Storytelling Genres includes general studies of multiple traditions and works on specific local traditions, including those from Hong Kong and Shandong, among others.

Pingshu, Pinghua, and Tanci

Zhou 1983 provides the culmination of several decades’ research on Suzhou pingtan 评弹 storytelling and related genres. Wu Zongxi, a major figure in the Shanghai cultural bureau, has written numerous key works (under several pseudonyms, including Zuo Xian) on the stylistics of Suzhou pingtan storytelling performance, best represented in Zuo 1982. Benson 1995 looks at the influence of new radio technology on Suzhou-style tanci story singing, while Tsao 1988 examines the musical features of that tradition. Bender 2003 treats narrative and performative aspects of Suzhou storytelling, and He 2012 investigates the socioeconomic position of professional storytellers in the lower Yangzi delta. Tan 1982 examines the pingshu/pinghua tradition in general, while Blader 1999 explores issues related to performances in the 1980s done by the Suzhou storyteller Jin Shengbo, whom she recorded. Vibeke Børdahl has produced a significant body of work on the Yangzhou pinghua 评话 storytelling tradition. Both Børdahl 1999 (see under General Overviews) and Børdahl 2013 (see under Oral-Connected Prose) stem from her research on the Yangzhou pinghua tradition.

Bender, Mark. Plum and Bamboo: China’s Suzhou Chantefable Tradition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
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First study in English to introduce the narrative and performative features of Suzhou tanci story singing; utilizes performance folkloristics approach.
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Benson, Carleton. “The Manipulation of Tanci in Radio Shanghai during the 1930s.” Republican China 20.2 (1995): 117–146.
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Discusses the use of new radio technology and its relation to Suzhou-style tanci story singing and consumer culture in the era when radio was gaining popularity in Shanghai.
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Blader, Susan. “Oral Narrative and Its Transformation into Print: The Case of Bai Yutang.” In The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Literature in Modern China. Edited by Vibeke Børdahl, 161–180. Studies on Asian Topics 24. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1999.
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Discusses the process of textualization of a Chinese oral narrative.
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He, Qiliang. Gilded Voices: Economics, Politics, and Storytelling in the Yangzi Delta since 1949. Ideas, History, and Modern China 5. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
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Challenges oversimplified ideas that all professional storytelling and opera in China was muzzled by the state immediately after 1949, by offering arguments about a viable cultural market for storytelling and means by which storytellers retained agency in the 1950s and later.
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Tan Daxian 谭达先. Zhongguo pingshu (pinghua) yanjiu (中国评书 (评话)研究). Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1982.
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Offers a variety of information on aspects of history, stories, and local situations with regard to Chinese professional storytelling.
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Tsao, Pen-yeh. The Music of Su-chou T’an-tz’u: Elements of the Chinese Southern Singing Narrative. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1988.
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The major book in English on the musical features of Suzhou tanci storytelling. Examples are taken from the “opening ballads” sung at the beginning of storytelling sessions.
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Zhou Liang 周良. Suzhou pingtan jiu wen chao (苏州评弹旧闻钞). Huaiyang, China: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 1983.
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A landmark work on the study of historical documents related to the history of Suzhou storytelling.
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Zuo Xian 左弦. Pingtan san lun (评弹散论). Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1982.
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One of several works by this author introducing the rhetorical features of Suzhou pingtan storytelling, by using native aesthetic concepts and terminology. Zuo has been a central figure in Shanghai storytelling administration since the 1950s.
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Baojuan (Precious Scrolls)

Overmyer 1999 is the key work in English examining the “precious volumes” (baojuan 宝卷) tradition, also known as “precious scrolls,” which features written texts that frequently have demonstrated links to oral performance traditions and often concern narratives affiliated with Buddhism, Daoism, or syncretic local religions. Bender 2001 and Berezkin 2011 analyze local traditions of “precious scrolls” on the basis of ethnographic fieldwork conducted since the 1990s. Che 1998 and Hu 1984 provide extensive bibliographies of written texts for this genre.

Bender, Mark. “A Description of Jiangjing (Telling Scriptures) Services in Jingjiang, China.” Asian Folklore Studies 60.1 (2001): 101–133.
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Detailed fieldwork observations from 1992 on a local style of “precious scrolls” (baojuan) prosimetric tradition in the midst of revival.
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Berezkin, Rostislav. “An Analysis of ‘Telling Scriptures’ (Jiangjing) during Temple Festivals in Gangkou (Zhangjiagang), with Special Attention to the Status of the Performers.” CHINOPERL Papers 30.1 (2011): 25–76.
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This study, based on fieldwork in Gangkou town (modern Zhangjiagang city) in Jiangsu Province, involves the recitation of baojuan (“precious scrolls,” known as “telling scriptures” locally), dealing with the deities’ hagiographies during modern-day temple festivals. It analyzes the status of baojuan performers who combine the features of ritual specialists and professional entertainers.
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Che Xilun 车锡伦. Zhongguo baojuan zongmu (中國寶卷總目). Dushu wenxian zhuankan 5. Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo, 1998.
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Contains a bibliography of “precious volumes” (baojuan) texts in the Chinese original.
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Hu Shiying 胡士莹. Tanci baojuan shumu (弹词宝卷书目). Shanghai: Shanghai gudian chubanshe, 1984.
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Basic bibliography of baojuan (precious scrolls) and various styles of tanci chantefable narratives. Originally published in 1957 (Shanghai: Gudian wenxue chubanshe).
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Overmyer, Daniel L. Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
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Key work in English on the “precious volumes” (baojuan宝卷) tradition.
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Other Storytelling Genres

Earlier general works on a variety of Chinese storytelling traditions include Chen 1958 and Zhao 1982. In addition to the Chinese scholarship, a devoted coterie of scholars trained in the West have taken an interest in professional storytelling in China since the 1960s. Among the first was Vĕna Hrdličková (Hrdličková 1965), who described live performance contexts and storytelling guilds in the pre-1949 era. CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature (cited under Journals) was founded in 1969, under the editorship of Chao Ru-lan, and continues to publish articles on professional storytelling, drama, and other performance arts by an international range of scholars. Some of these include Yung 1976, which attempts to reconstruct a live performance situation for a moribund style of Cantonese story-singing performance in Hong Kong, and Zheng 1992, which examines a case study in which the Cantonese “wooden fish” narrative singing tradition is adapted to a new social context—immigration to the United States. A collection of essays and an annotated catalogue concerning the “wooden fish” tradition can be found in Leung 1978, while Hensman and Mack 1968 provides translations of several types of Hong Kong storytelling. More recently, Shepherd 2011 studies the history and performance techniques of Shandong “fast tales” (kuaishu 快书), the author gaining professional competence as a performer and researcher.

Chen Ruheng 陈汝衡. Shuoshu shihua (说书史话). Beijing: Zuojia chubanshe, 1958.
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An early work classifying and describing major forms of oral narrative in China.
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Hensman, Bertha, and Mack Kwok-Ping. Hong Kong Tale-Spinners: A Collection of Tales and Ballads Transcribed and Translated from Story-Tellers in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1968.
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Basic translations of several styles of oral storytelling in post-1949 Hong Kong. Second edition published in 1977; reprinted as recently as 1986.
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Hrdličková, Vĕna. “The Professional Training of Chinese Storytellers and the Storytellers’ Guilds.” Archiv Orientální 33 (1965): 225–248.
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An early article in Western languages about the context and performance of Chinese professional storytelling.
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Leung, Pui-Chee. Wooden-Fish Books: Critical Essays and an Annotated Catalogue Based on the Collections in the University of Hong Kong. Centre of Asian Studies Bibliographies and Research Guides 13. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, 1978.
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Essays and annotated catalogue of Cantonese muyu (muk-yu) “wooden fish” oral-connected texts.
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Shepherd, Eric. “Singing Dead Tales to Life: Rhetorical Strategies in Shandong Fast Tales.” Oral Tradition 26.1 (2011): 27–70.
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Rigorous article employing aspects of the performance folkloristics approach to a northern Chinese professional storytelling tradition that uses metal clappers.
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Yung, Bell. “Reconstructing a Lost Performance Context: A Field Work Experiment.” CHINOPERL Papers 6.1 (1976): 120–143.
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Describes the attempts to create a live performance situation for a moribund style of Cantonese story-singing performance in a Hong Kong teahouse.
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Zhao Jingshen 赵景深. Quyi cong tan (曲艺丛谈). Beijing: Zhongguo quyi chubanshe, 1982.
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Classic essays on various styles of local prosimetric traditions and vernacular literature.
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Zheng, Su De San. “From Toison to New York: Muk’yu Songs in Folk Tradition.” CHINOPERL Papers 16.1 (1992): 165–205.
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A study on the adaptation of aspects of the “wooden fish” narrative singing tradition in a social context outside China.
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Folk Songs

Folk songs have a unique place in Chinese folk literature, extending back to the age of Confucius with the Book of Odes (Shijing) in the 4th century BCE, when folk song collection was viewed as a means of political census and as a moral barometer for the various kingdoms. This interest in the relation of folk song to social life continued in the early 20th century during the May Fourth era, and on through the mid-20th-century use of songs for revolutionary propaganda and as evidence of the changed lives of the people after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Though stalled during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), major collections continued after its end.

Anthologies and General Studies

Prominent issues in folk song studies from the May Fourth era can be seen in the articles from the journal Folksong Weekly (Geyao zhoukan), collected in Zhong 1989, which look to songs as data for reforming social ills and women’s issues, among other things. Following the Cultural Revolution, resumed nationwide collection efforts resulted in the massive Zhongguo minjian gequ jicheng (Lü 1982–2009), organized in volumes by province, which provides useful starting material (lyrics and melodies) for in-depth scholarship and information on specific local genres. For a selection of these songs convenient for use as teaching material, complete with accompanying commentary and CD recordings of the songs, see Qiao 2002. Simple introductions regarding the general characteristics of Chinese folk songs include Qiao 1998 and Han 1989, while those seeking more in-depth musical analysis can look to Jiang 1982 and Schimmelpenninck 1997 (the latter cited under Studies on Regional Folk Song Genres). One of the more recent theoretical inquiries into Chinese folk songs includes the “musical geography” approach of the 1980s, typified by Miao and Qiao 1987, which divides Chinese folk song styles into various “color regions.” Ideas resulting from this approach are partly summarized in English in Han 1989. Schimmelpenninck 1991, in turn, highlights the tension between local and more-general scholarly terms for various folk song genres. Tuohy 1999 looks further at the implicit power in folk song genre classification and its relation to social life.

Han Kuo-Huang. “Folk Songs of the Han Chinese: Characteristics and Classifications in Chinese Music Theory.” Asian Music 20.2 (1989): 107–128.
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Summarizes some basic concepts of the “music geography” approach used by Chinese scholars of folk songs in the 1980s, including the division of traditions into geographical “color areas,” distinction between northern and southern folk songs, and a brief introduction to various subtypes of three major folk song categories: work songs, mountain songs, and lyric songs.
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Jiang Mingdun 江明惇. Hanzu min’ge gailun (汉族民歌概论). Shanghai: Shanghai yinyue chubanshe, 1982.
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Standard introduction to Han Nationality Chinese folk songs, examining their history, development, major categories, and relation to other music genres. Strong emphasis on melodic analysis.
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Lü Ji 吕骥, ed. Zhongguo minjian gequ jicheng (中国民间歌曲集成). 30 vols. Beijing: Renmin yinyue chubanshe, 1982–2009.
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Provincial collections of folk songs stemming from nationwide collection efforts renewed in the late 1970s and 1980s. Include music and lyrics, as well as introductory essays on regional song traditions, linguistics, etc. An important collection, although sometimes criticized for issues of selection and representation. The volumes were published between 1982 and 2009, on the basis of projects dating back to the 1960s.
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Miao Jing 苗晶 and Qiao Jianzhong 乔建中. Lun Hanzu min’ge jinsi secaiqu de huafen (论汉族民歌近似色彩区的划分). Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1987.
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Analyzes the historical development, geographical and cultural background, categorization, distribution, and stylistic characteristics of eleven ethnic Han folk song “color regions” in China. Key work for those interested in the “musical geography” approach.
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Qiao Jianzhong 乔建中. “Han Folk Song in China.” In Tradition and Change in the Performance of Chinese Music. Vol. 1. Edited by Tsao Pen-yeh, 35–40. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, 1998.
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Includes a short introduction to the historical development of various song traditions in different regions of China from the 6th century BCE to the present, a discussion of different classification systems proposed by scholars, and a brief description of the general characteristics of Han folk songs.
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Qiao Jianzhong 乔建中, ed. Zhongguo jingdian min’ge: Jianshang zhinan (中国经典民歌：鉴赏指南). 2 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai yinyue chubanshe, 2002.
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A collection of 305 folk songs with lyrics and cipher notation from a variety of localities and ethnic groups, each accompanied by commentary introducing the song’s history and social context along with thematic and melodic analysis. Includes two CDs containing a selection of the songs.
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Schimmelpenninck, Antoinet. “In Reply to Zhang’s and Schaffrath’s Article: What about the Singers?” CHIME 4 (1991): 34–39.
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Highlights the tensions between local genre categories and the more general folk song categories used by scholars.
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Tuohy, Sue. “The Social Life of Genre: The Dynamics of Folksong in China.” Asian Music 30.2 (1999): 39–86.
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Using case studies that include a feature film, folk song scholarship, and local performance events, Tuohy looks at the implicit power evoked in genre classifications that involve the musical and the social, the moral and the political.
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Zhong Jingwen 钟敬文, ed. Geyao lunji (歌谣论集). Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1989.
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Collection of articles from May Fourth–era folk song journal, which exhibit the types of ideas about folk song and the folk that intrigued scholars at that time. Originally published in 1928 (Shanghai: Beixin shuju).
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Studies on Regional Folk Song Genres

Monographs and essay collections that explore a variety of ethnic song traditions include those on the Dai (Tai Lüe) in Davis 2005, the Dong in Deng 2001, the Zhuang in Huang 1983, and various ethnic genres in Duan and Guo 1987. Other works look at regional song traditions and their social backgrounds. Schimmelpenninck 1997 provides an in-depth ethnographic, historical, and musicological study of “mountain songs” (shan’ge) from southern Jiangsu Province. Zhang 1972 constitutes a classic study of “flower songs” (hua’er) from the Northwest, while Kouwenhoven 2013 brings in significant new research based on early-21st-century fieldwork. Those interested in Asian American studies may benefit from Hom 1987, which looks at the development of Cantonese rhymes in the United States. For studies analyzing the rules of prosody in a wide variety of regional and ethnic song traditions, see Duan and Guo 1987 and the section on texts in Schimmelpenninck 1997.

Davis, Sara L. M. Songs and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China’s Southwest Borders. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
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Looks at the song traditions of the Tai Lüe in Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture as performed both for tourist outsiders (the “front stage”) and local insiders (the “backstage”). Highlights aspects of interethnic relations both within China and across borders.
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Deng Minwen. “Dong Oral Poetry: Kuant Cix.” Oral Tradition 16.2 (2001): 436–452.
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Examines the formal aspects and content of this song tradition of the Dong ethnic group, relating it to the broader social structure and issues of customary law and folk belief. Also looks at the aesthetics of artistic style and how the songs are transmitted during various festivals.
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Duan Baolin 段宝林 and Guo Wei 过伟, eds. Minjian shilü (民间诗律). Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1987.
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Collection of essays on folk poetics, introducing a variety of local and ethnic song genres, focusing especially on formalistic aspects and rules of prosody. Includes examples of lyrics from a wide range of languages, together with analysis.
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Hom, Marlon K., comp. and trans. Songs of Gold Mountain: Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
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A collection of Cantonese folk literature about living in America, arranged by themes that deal with immigration and the immigrant experience. Complete with introductions to historical and social contexts.
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Huang Yongcha 黄勇刹. Zhuangzu geyao gailun (壮族歌谣概论). Nanning, China: Guangxi minzu chubanshe, 1983.
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Introduces the structure and form of various folk song styles from the Zhuang people of Guangxi.
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Kouwenhoven, Frank. “Love Songs and Temple Festivals in Northwest China: Musical Laughter in the Face of Adversity.” In Music, Dance and the Art of Seduction. Edited by Frank Kouwenhoven and James Kippen, 115–165. Delft, The Netherlands: Eburon, 2013.
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A key article based on over a decade of then-recent fieldwork. Introduces the regional song tradition known as hua’er (“flower songs”), and discusses multiple factors involved in certain temple festivals where the songs are sung, including courtship, sex, competition, ethnicity, music, and fertility cults.
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Schimmelpenninck, Antoinet. Chinese Folk Songs and Folk Singers: Shan’ge Traditions in Southern Jiangsu. CHIME Studies in East Asian Music 1. Leiden, The Netherlands: CHIME Foundation, 1997.
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An extremely thorough study of a regional tradition of “mountain songs” in southern Jiangsu Province. Provides an excellent history of folk song studies in China, in-depth descriptions of the local song tradition and fieldwork experiences, portraits of singers, performance contexts, and textual, thematic, and musical analysis, including a discussion of the phenomenon of monothematism.
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Zhang Yaxiong 张亚雄. Hua’er ji (花儿集). Taibei: Dongfang wenhua shuju, 1972.
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Originally published in 1940 (Zhongqing, China: Qingnian shudian) in the Folklore and Folk Literature series of National Peking University, this seminal collection of hua’er song texts and related essays helped to concretize the concept of the genre.
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Folk Stories

The modern interest in research and collection of folk stories, alongside the collection of folk songs, began with the May Fourth era and resulted in the publication and preservation of folk stories both from Han Chinese and ethnic minority groups. The Chinese folk story category includes genres such as myths, legends, fairy tales, jests, and fables that are orally created and transmitted. As Lu 2007 attests, storytellers with large story repertoires have been locally and nationally recognized. Their stories have been collected, translated into Chinese (in the case of ethnic minorities), and preserved for study. An excellent example is Xu and Huang 1991, which includes folk tales and cultural information on China’s smallest official ethnic group—the Hezhe (Hezhen, Goldi, etc.) of Heilongjiang Province. In addition, joint collection and translation projects between Western and Chinese scholars since the early 1990s, such as Miller 1994; Hali, et al. 1998; and Stuart, et al. 1994, have placed Chinese ethnic-minority folk stories on the global stage, making them readily available to non-Chinese-speaking audiences.

Hali, Awelkhan, Zengxiang Li, and Karl W. Luckert. Kazakh Traditions of China. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998.
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Introduces an array of Kazakh oral traditions in northwest China. Includes a representative selection of folk stories and cultural background.
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Lu Ruiying 陆瑞英. Lu Ruiying: Minjian gushi geyao ji (陆瑞英民间故事歌谣集). Edited by Zhou Zhengliang 周正良 and Chen Yongchao 陈泳超. Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 2007.
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A unique introduction to a storyteller from Jiangsu Province, with over three hundred texts from her story repertoire.
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Miller, Lucien, ed. South of the Clouds: Tales of Yunnan. Translated by Guo Xu, Lucien Miller, and Xu Kun. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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Produced by a team of American and Chinese scholars, this book presents a collection of folk stories from twenty-five different ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province. A total of thirty-five stories from Chinese-language sources are presented, supplemented with information on the cultural background.
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Stuart, Kevin, Li Xuewei, and Shelear, eds. Special Issue: China’s Dagur Minority: Society, Shamanism, and Folklore. Sino-Platonic Papers 60 (December 1994).
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A detailed, book-length ethnographic overview of the Daur (Dagur) ethnic minority communities in northeast China and Xinjiang Province, providing context for the collected folk tales.
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Xu Changhan 徐昌翰 and Huang Renyuan 黄任远. Hezhezu wenxue (赫哲族文学). Zhongguo shaoshuminzu wenxue congshu (中国少数民族文学丛书). Harbin, China: Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 1991.
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Collected folk tales and cultural information on China’s smallest official ethnic group—the Hezhe (Hezhen, Goldi, etc.) of Heilongjiang Province. Includes stories of hunter heroes along with cultural background on shamanism and other aspects of this group, who until recent decades had subsisted on fishing and hunting.
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Epic in China

The study of epic has arisen to the forefront of folk narrative in China since the late 1990s. Although epic poetry (shishi 史诗), as the term is used in China today, is not often associated with the traditions of the Han majority, many ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China have traditions of oral and written epic. While European scholars began to take note of Tibetan and Mongolian epics in the 19th century, since the 1950s, Chinese researchers have collected many epics from a number of ethnic minority groups, especially in the southwest and western regions. Schipper and Yin 2004 provides a collection of essays on Chinese ethnic-minority epics. The epics are usually classified either as heroic epics or epics of creation or origin. Heroic epics, found mainly in the northern and western borderlands, typically feature one or more exemplary heroes whose deeds resonate with the ethnic group’s sense of self. Prime examples are epics of King Gesar (Tibetan) and Gesser Khan (a Mongol equivalent), Manas of the Kirghiz and Kazaks, and Jangar of the Mongols in western Inner Mongolia and eastern Xinjiang. Heissig 1996 provides an overview of Mongol epic studies, while Chao 2000 makes a significant contribution by applying Western oral-formulaic theory and performance folkloristics to the study of the Mongol epic Jangar. In southwest China, many epics collected from various groups concern the creation of the sky, earth, living creatures, and humans. Since the 1990s, a number of annotated multilinear translations and supporting studies for many regional creation epic traditions have been published, including Li, et al. 2007 and Bender 2008 on Yi creation epics; Wu, et al. 2012 on Miao creation epics; Zhang 2002 on the Yao creation epic, Miluotuo; Holm 2003 on a Zhuang creation epic; and Walker 1995 on a Lahu creation epic. A number of these epics are associated with funeral rites in which a ritualist guides the soul of the deceased to the land of the ancestors. Many motifs in these epics have parallels in Han myths.

Bender, Mark. “‘Tribes of Snow’: Animals and Plants in the Nuosu Book of Origins.” Asian Ethnology 67.1 (2008): 5–42.
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Presents ethnographic background on a key creation epic of the Nuosu Yi of southern Sichuan Province, focusing on plant and animal references in a Yi-language text. Includes an outline of the epic cycle.
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Chao Gejin 朝戈金. Kouchuan shishi shixue: Apile Jiangge’er chengshi jufa yanjiu (口传史诗诗学：冉皮勒《江格尔》程式句法研究). Nanning, China: Guangxi renmin chubanshe, 2000.
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Landmark study on the Mongol epic Jangar, through using Western oral-formulaic theory and performance folkloristics.
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Heissig, Walther. “The Present State of the Mongolian Epic and Some Topics for Future Research.” Oral Tradition 11.1 (1996): 85–98.
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General overview of Mongol epic studies, by a major figure in Mongolian epic studies.
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Holm, David. Killing a Buffalo for the Ancestors: A Zhuang Cosmological Text from Southwest China. Northern Illinois University Monograph Series on Southeast Asia 5. DeKalb: Southeast Asia Publications, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 2003.
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Annotated translation and introduction of ritual narratives concerning the creation of the sky, earth, and its various inhabitants. Includes a CD. Many motifs in the narratives resonate with epic/ritual narrative traditions of other minority groups in southwest China.
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Li Yunfeng 李云峰, Li Zixian 李子贤, and Yang Fuwang 杨甫旺, eds. Meige de wenhuaxue jiedu (梅葛”的文化学解读). Kunming, China: Yunnan daxue chubanshe, 2007.
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Essays on the text and cultural context of Meige, a creation epic of the Yi ethnic group in the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, China. Li Zixian, one of the editors, is a major figure in the study of myths and epics of China’s southwestern minority groups in the post-1978 era.
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Schipper, Minike, and Yin Hubin 尹虎彬, eds. Zhongguo shaoshu minzu wenhua zhong de shishi yu yingxiong (中国少数民族文化中的史诗与英雄). Guangxi, China: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2004.
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Bilingual (English and Chinese) collection of essays (English title is Epics and Heroes in China’s Minority Cultures), mostly by researchers on Chinese ethnic-minority epics at the Institute of Ethnic Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.
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Walker, Anthony R., ed. Mvuh hpa mi hpa / Creating Heaven, Creating Earth: An Epic of the Lahu People in Yunnan. Jiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 1995.
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An epic about the creation of the world from the Lahu, an ethnic group populating parts of southwest China and Southeast Asia. Many of the mythic motifs in the text are similar to those from several other ethnic groups in southwest China. The translation was made by Walker, an 0authority on Lahu culture, in collaboration with Shi Kun, a specialist in Chinese folklore.
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Wu Yiwen 吴一文, Jin Dan 金旦, Mark Bender, Wu Yifang 吴一方, and Levi Gibbs. Hxab Lieb / Miaozu shishi (苗族史诗 / Hmong Oral Epics). Guiyang, China: Guizhou minzu chubanshe, 2012.
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Trilingual annotated translation of orally performed epics concerning the creation of the world, from the Miao (Hmong) ethnic group from the southeast quadrant of Guizhou Province, China. The master text is based on versions from several singers collected by Jin Dan and others over a span of nearly fifty years.
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Zhang Shengzhen 张声震, ed. Miluotuo guge: Zhongguo Yaozu Bunu zhixi (密洛陀古歌—中国瑶族布努支系). 3 vols. Nanning, China: Guangxi minzu chubanshe, 2002.
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Massive three-volume, multilinear, annotated translation of a creation epic featuring the female creator figure Miluotuo. This is based on versions collected from the Bunu subgroup of the Yao ethnic group in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
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Folk Drama and Ritual

Numerous genres of Chinese folk drama have historical ties to religious and ritualistic events, due in part to the common link of performance. In many cases, performances occurring during festivals have been seen as having multiple functions: to entertain both people and spirits, to exorcise ghosts, and to bring prosperity for communities. In the following two subsections, the works in Ritual Opera deal with more overtly ritualistic performances, including the ancient Nuo theater, dixi, New Year’s shehuo performances, Yi theater, bridal laments, and Mulian ritual operas, while Folk Drama looks at performance traditions that tend to be seen as more purely for entertainment or the promotion of ideological values. However, there are certainly cases of blurred distinctions, and cross-references are made where appropriate.

Ritual Opera

Various scholars, including the authors of Qu 1989 and Riley 1997, have looked at the ancient Nuo theater, with Chongqing 1992 examining the related farmers’ theater, dixi. These works often attempt to show the influence of these genres of ritual theater on later drama or to place them within a larger narrative of social evolution. For an introduction of various possible precursors of Chinese drama, including such shamanistic performances, see Dolby 1983. On the theme of exorcising hungry ghosts from entire communities, Johnson 1989 shows how performances of the play Mulian Rescues His Mother during the Ghost Festival effectively merged real life and the stage. Feng and Stuart 1994 suggests a similar effect during Spring Festival (shehuo 社火) performances of a Daoist nature, which also have an exorcising function, as do the bridal laments in McLaren 2008. Guo 2005, in turn, shows how the Mulian drama was effectively transformed by local mercantile lineages into a proponent of Confucian moral values. Lee 2008 (see under Folk Drama) similarly suggests the imposition of a Confucian framework on Chinese street opera in Singapore as part of the state’s discourse on national culture.

Chongqing, Huangpu. “Dixi: Chinese Farmers’ Theatre.” Drama Review 36.2 (1992): 106–117.
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Describes masked farmers’ theater in Guizhou Province, focusing on martial stories performed during the Spring Festival, which are used to entertain, to ensure good harvests, and to bring children to childless couples.
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Dolby, William. “Early Chinese Plays and Theater.” In Chinese Theater: From Its Origins to the Present Day. Edited by Colin Mackerras, 7–31. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1983.
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Outlines possible antecedents of Chinese drama, including shamanistic ritual performances of dance and song to invoke the spirits, Chinese jesters performing to amuse and give advice, and Tang-dynasty bianwen and “marvel tale” novellas, among others.
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Feng Lide, and Kevin Stuart. “Delighting the Gods in 1990: A Han Shehuo in Qinghai Province (PRC).” Asian Theatre Journal 11.1 (1994): 35–63.
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An ethnographic account of a Daoist-influenced, ethnic Han, village-level shehuo (series of performances held during the Spring Festival) in eastern Qinghai Province, intended to appease, thank, and pacify the gods and to entertain. Includes an actor dressed as the Daoist protector of towns and villages, who makes an “inspection” of the town, momentarily fusing together the mortal and spiritual worlds.
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Guo, Qitao. Ritual Opera and Mercantile Lineage: The Confucian Transformation of Popular Culture in Late Imperial Huizhou. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005.
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Within the historical context of Huizhou merchant culture, looks at how Mulian ritual operas developed and were remade in keeping with Confucian and popular commercial morality. Emphasizing female chastity, a key theme for sojourning merchants in maintaining a stable family lineage at home, this study shows how Huizhou elites used the performance of this opera to convey orthodox social norms.
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Johnson, David. “Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The Cultural Significance of Chinese Ritual Opera.” Paper presented at a workshop sponsored by the Chinese Popular Culture Project, held 9–13 August 1987 in Berkeley, CA. In Ritual Opera, Operatic Ritual: “Mu-lien Rescues His Mother” in Chinese Popular Culture. Edited by David Johnson, 1–45. Publications of the Chinese Popular Culture Project 1. Berkeley: University of California, 1989.
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Looks at ritual opera used for communal protection and to expel demons during the Ghost Festival and at other times during the year. Argues that the performance blurs distinctions between opera, ritual, and reality—between “real life” and the “stage.” Suggests that the roles of “actor” and “priest” were overlapping categories in traditional China, connected by their fundamental expression through performance.
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McLaren, Anne E. Performing Grief: Bridal Laments in Rural China. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008.
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On the basis of fieldwork along the coastal border of modern-day Shanghai, looks at historical, social, geographical, textual, and experiential aspects of a local tradition of bridal laments, attempting to place it within Chinese culture as a whole and within a tradition of wailing as connected with ritual power.
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Qu Liuyi. “The Yi: Human Evolution Theatre.” Drama Review 33.3 (1989): 103–112.
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Outlines geography and categories of Nuo theater, providing ethnographic descriptions of performances by ethnic Yi in Guizhou Province, which the author then attempts to contextualize via notions of social evolution.
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Riley, Jo. Chinese Theatre and the Actor in Performance. Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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Looking both at jingju and nuo theater, presents the performer as a vessel receiving from previous generations of performers and ancestors, whose body is dissected and reassembled into a new expressive entity. Argues against Western interpretations of audience members attending Chinese theater as spectators, positioning them instead as active participants in the reconstruction of fictive worlds.
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Folk Drama

Aside from the ritualistic origins of Chinese folk drama, one of the other common themes of research seems to be the appropriation of such drama into the promotion of various ideologies, perhaps most classically demonstrated in Holm 1991, a discussion of the revolutionary adaptation of yangge 秧歌 folk drama. Guo 2005 (see under Ritual Opera) provides an earlier, late imperial example of how the Mulian drama was effectively transformed by local mercantile lineages into a proponent of Confucian moral values. Lee 2008, in turn, offers a more recent example that similarly suggests the imposition of a Confucian framework on modern-day Chinese street opera in Singapore as part of the state’s discourse on national culture. While Lee 2008 focuses on national culture, Yang 2006 looks at the relation of folk opera troupes to regional culture, and Jiang 2009 gives a case study of what happens to rural traditions when they move to the city. In addition, several of the works included here focus on gender issues, such as those at play in the popular depictions of woman warriors in Chinese shadow plays, described by Chen 2007, and an emphasis on female chastity in the Mulian ritual operas funded by Huizhou merchants, in Guo 2005 (see under Ritual Opera).

Chen, Fan Pen Li. Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2007.
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Looks at how Chinese cultural and religious beliefs have evolved in connection with the history of Chinese shadow theater. Literary analysis is combined with extensive fieldwork and interviews with members of various troupes. Explores the underlying fantasies and desires expressed through popular depictions of woman warriors. Includes translations of three plays.
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Holm, David. Art and Ideology in Revolutionary China. Oxford: Clarendon, 1991.
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After discussing the development of Chinese Communist Party cultural policy, this work looks at how the folk drama / dance form known as yangge was adapted during the Yan’an period, replacing elements of overt sexuality with new revolutionary content.
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Jiang, Jin. Women Playing Men: Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Shanghai. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009.
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In-depth study of the process of a local folk drama evolving into an urban performance phenomenon. Uses cultural-studies theory.
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Lee, Tong Soon. Chinese Street Opera in Singapore. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008.
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Looks at changing cultural aesthetics of Chinese street opera (jiexi) as they relate to Singaporean nationalism. Includes material based on extensive fieldwork both with professional and amateur troupes.
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Yang Hong 杨红. Dangdai shehui bianqian zhong de errentai yanjiu: Hequ minjian xiban yu diyu wenhua zhi hudong guanxi (当代社会变迁中的二人台研究：河曲民间戏班与地域文化之互动关系). Beijing: Zhongyang yinyue xueyuan chubanshe, 2006.
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On the basis of extensive fieldwork conducted with “two-person opera” (errentai) folk theatrical troupes in a border region in northern China, this work looks at issues of social change and regional culture. Also discusses traditional performances on a temple stage on the banks of the Yellow River, held during the Ghost Festival for the hungry ghosts of migrant farmworkers who had perished during their travels.
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Vernacular Literature

Vernacular literature (suwenxue 俗文学) became of interest to Chinese scholars during the May Fourth period. Zheng Zhenduo, A Ying, Lu Xun, and others were among the scholars who brought attention and legitimacy to this undervalued realm of written literature outside the canons of classical poetry, the Confucian classics, and official histories. Some works of popular fiction became identified as Chinese equivalents of the Western novel, the prestige literary genre of the 19th and 20th centuries. These works included Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng), Outlaws of the Marsh (Shuihu zhuan), Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), The Scholars (Rulin waishi), and Journey to the West (Xiyou ji). With the exception of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (composed in a vernacularized form of Classical Chinese), all these works were written in the pseudo style of an oral storyteller. Moreover, Journey to the West was written in a prosimetric form of alternating passages of prose and verse, and Outlaws of the Marsh seems to have definite connections to oral storytelling traditions as source material. At the same time, there have been many adaptations of these written texts in oral narrative and dramatic forms, suggesting a mutual influence between the oral and the written.

Oral-Connected Prose

The works listed here look at the influence, in terms of style and content, between oral storytelling traditions and popular literature. Zheng 1984 offers a historical overview of many major styles of oral performance and related vernacular literature. Several in-depth studies of vernacular fiction include Hanan 1981, on huaben xiaoshuo; Riftin 1998, on the vernacular novel Three Kingdoms; and Ge 2001, on the novel Shuihu zhuan. Wan 2009, in turn, looks at the exploits of swordsmen and kung fu masters in vernacular narratives. Two works that deal explicitly with the interaction of oral and written traditions include Idema 1974, which examines printed texts that often employ conventions of oral storytelling style, and Børdahl 2013, which analyzes the interaction of oral and written traditions used to tell the story of “Wu Song Fights the Tiger.” Zhalgaa 2001 is significant for its discussion of how traditional Chinese vernacular narratives have been translated into oral and written Mongolian.

Børdahl, Vibeke. Wu Song Fights the Tiger: The Interaction of Oral and Written Traditions in the Chinese Novel, Drama, and Storytelling. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Monograph 122. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2013.
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On the basis of decades of research, this important study examines the relation between Chinese literary culture and oral professional storytelling, including analyses of the novel, drama librettos, performance literature, storytellers’ scripts, and oral performances.
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Ge, Liangyan. Out of the Margins: The Rise of Chinese Vernacular Fiction. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2001.
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Engaging critical research on vernacular fiction of the last few decades of the 20th century, Ge’s work examines history, early commentaries, structural patterns, and other narrative features of representative works such as Shuihu zhuan.
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Hanan, Patrick. The Chinese Vernacular Story. Harvard East Asian Series 94. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
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Exacting study of early vernacular stories, particularly from the collected works of Feng Menglong of the Ming dynasty.
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Idema, Wilt L. Chinese Vernacular Fiction: The Formative Period. Sinica Leidensia 13. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1974.
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A key study on the nature of printed texts that often employ conventions of oral storytelling style.
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Riftin, Boris. “‘Three Kingdoms’ in Chinese Storytelling: A Comparative Study.” In The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Literature in Modern China. Edited by Vibeke Børdahl, 137–160. Studies on Asian Topics 24. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1998.
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One example of this author’s very prolific writings in Russian, Chinese, and English on Chinese vernacular literature and folklore.
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Wan, Margaret B. Green Peony and the Rise of the Chinese Martial Arts Novel. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.
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A groundbreaking history of the vernacular martial arts novel in China.
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Zhalgaa. “A Brief Account of Bensen Ülger and Ülgeren Bense.” Oral Tradition 16.2 (2001): 264–279.
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An article on translations of traditional Chinese vernacular narratives into oral and written Mongolian.
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Zheng Zhenduo 郑振铎. Zhongguo suwenxue shi (中国俗文学史). 2 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian yingyin chubanshe, 1984.
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The first comprehensive historical overview of vernacular fiction (much of it prosimetric) and related quyi performing arts and drama. First published in 1938 (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshugan).
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Prosimetric Literature

Aside from “masterworks” of vernacular literature, such as Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng), Outlaws of the Marsh (Shuihu zhuan), Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), The Scholars (Rulin waishi), and Journey to the West (Xiyou ji), there is still a largely unexplored body of texts that go by names such as changben 唱本, tanci 弹词, muyu 木鱼, zidishu 子弟书, huaben xiaoshuo 话本小说, and other terms that sometimes correlated to performed storytelling traditions or were printed forms in their own right. Written in a prosimetric form of alternating passages of prose and verse, these works, like many of the masterworks mentioned above, embody a style that evokes the scene of a storyteller in a teahouse or marketplace relating an orally delivered tale. Mair 1997 provides a general introduction to the prosimetric tradition in Chinese vernacular literature. McLaren 1998 examines Ming-dynasty chantefable texts found in an elite woman’s grave in the lower Yangzi delta that date from the 16th century, while Mair 1989 explores the “transformation texts” (bianwen 变文) of the Tang dynasty discovered in the Buddhist grottoes at Dunhuang, Gansu Province, along the old Silk Road. Prosimetric works also include texts by women, such as Chen Duansheng of the late 18th century, who at the age of sixteen began her lengthy prosimetric work, Zaishengyuan, translated in Idema and Grant 2004, which features a young woman who masquerades as a scholar and achieves the rank of prime minister. In addition, texts written in a secret “women’s script” from Hunan called nüshu 女书 have been translated into English in Idema 2009. Idema 2008 offers useful material for a comparison of different oral-connected versions of a “single” folk narrative. King 1989 provides an annotated translation of a lengthy prosimetric text, while Dudbridge 1990 discusses a Cantonese form of oral-connected text. Tanaka 2000, in turn, looks at a huge, rare compendium of hundreds of prosimetric texts and dramas collected by a Mongolian official in northern China in the late Qing dynasty.

Dudbridge, Glen. “The Goddess Hua-yüeh San-niang and the Cantonese Ballad Ch’en-hsiang T’ai-tzu.” Hanxue yanjiu 漢學研究 8.1 (1990): 627–646.
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A rare study on a Cantonese form of oral-connected text.
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Idema, Wilt L. Meng Jiangnü Brings Down the Great Wall: Ten Versions of a Chinese Legend. China Program Book. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008.
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Includes ten annotated, translated versions in different oral-connected written genres of one of China’s best-known folk narratives.
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Idema, Wilt L. Heroines of Jiangyong: Chinese Narrative Ballads in Women’s Script. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009.
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Includes translations of moral tracts and prosimetric narrative ballads originally written in the secret “women’s script” from Jiangyong County, Hunan Province.
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Idema, Wilt L., and Beata Grant. “Karmic Bonds and Reincarnation: Chen Duansheng and Houzhi.” In The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China. By Wilt L. Idema and Beata Grant, 734–753. Harvard East Asian Monographs 231. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004.
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This article introduces a major work in a body of prosimetric texts known as “women’s tanci.” The narratives were written and edited by a number of women during the 18th and 19th centuries, for what seems to be predominantly female audiences in the Yangzi delta region. Narrative motifs sometimes include women cross-dressing as men and passing the imperial exams.
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King, Gail Oman, trans. The Story of Hua Guan Suo. Arizona State University, Center for Asian Studies Monograph 23. Tempe: Center for Asian Studies, Arizona State University, 1989.
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Annotated translation of a prosimetric text.
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Mair, Victor H. T’ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph 28. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
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Landmark work in English on the “transformation texts” (bianwen) dating from the 7th century CE, discovered at Dunhuang, Gansu Province, in the early 20th century.
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Mair, Victor H. “The Prosimetric Form in the Chinese Literary Tradition.” In Prosimetrum: Crosscultural Perspectives on Narrative in Prose and Verse. Edited by Joseph Harris and Karl Reichl, 365–385. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
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Landmark article on the prosimetric tradition in Chinese vernacular literature. Includes brief introduction to many written and performance-connected textual traditions.
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McLaren, Anne E. Chinese Popular Culture and Ming Chantefables. Sinica Leidensia 41. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1998.
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Important study of prosimetric texts unearthed in Jiading, Jiangsu Province, in 1967, contextualized within Ming vernacular culture and society.
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Tanaka Ichinari 田仲一成. “Guanyu Che Wang fu quben” (关于车王府曲本). In Che Wang fu quben yanjiu (车王府曲本研究). Edited by Liu Liemao 刘烈茂 and Guo Jingrui 郭精锐. Guangzhou, China: Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 2000.
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Important study on a huge, rare compendium of hundreds of prosimetric texts and dramas collected by a Mongolian official in northern China in the late Qing dynasty.
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