How did the performing art of "Shuo" decline from prosperity in Tang and Song Dynasties?

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, a performing art called "talking" has been widely popular among the people, and talking is telling stories. The art of "telling" originated from the ancient rap art, and there was a tradition of telling stories and books in ancient China.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "storyteller figurines" tilted their heads, stuck out their tongues, shrugged their shoulders and hunched their hips, vividly showing the storytellers dancing when they talked about the critical moment. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Zhi recited excellent foreign novels. This novel is a combination of performance and rap, and it is the embodiment of the further development of the art of speaking.

By the Sui Dynasty, Hou Bai's Qi Yan Lu had used "talking" to tell stories. By the Tang Dynasty, "talking" had become a special performing art, which was all the rage, from the court to the people. Guo Fan's Biography of Gao Lishi records that in July of the first year of Shang and Yuan Dynasties, the Emperor's Father moved his staff to the west for resettlement. Every day, the emperor and the high-looking courtyard sweep the floor, and the stems are male; Lectures, discussions and speeches are not close to the law, but in the end they are to please sacred feelings.

This shows that during the reign of Tang Suzong, "speaking" has entered the court from the folk. Yuan Zhen, a poet, wrote a poem in "Appreciating White Scholar's Hundred Rhymes in Hanlin", in which "obedient" refers to a story told and sung by a scholar. Yuan Zhen himself also took notes and said: I heard the word "a flower" in Xinchang House, but I haven't finished it yet in Yin.

A Flower is the story of Li Wa in folklore at that time. In addition to A Flower, there are Tang Yin performances such as Lushan Yuangonghua, Han Qinhu Storybook and Ye Jing Neng Storybook, and the speaking skills in the Tang Dynasty have developed quite well.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was also a popular saying that Buddhist monks publicized Buddhism to the people at that time. At first, this kind of "popular talk" was just a simple statement of scriptures and Buddhist stories, and then it gradually evolved, and some folklore and historical stories were also sung, such as the changes of the tomb of the Han general, Hu Qiu, Wu Zixu and Zhaojun.

"Spoken language" and "speaking" are closely related. In the Tang Dynasty, "Shuo" not only absorbed some forms and techniques of "vernacular" in its development, but also was deeply influenced in its theme and content.

Entering the Song Dynasty, with the development of industry and commerce and the prosperity of urban economy in the Song Dynasty, "speaking" also appeared unprecedented prosperity. At that time, there were many washe goulan in the city that specially performed various folk skills.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the tile houses in Beijing were quite large. By the Southern Song Dynasty, the scale was further expanded and developed into small and medium-sized towns, forming a cultural and entertainment market all over the country.

All kinds of folk skills are staged in the Goulan of Washe, except "talking", as well as zaju, puppet show and Zhu Gong tune. "Tokyo Dream of China Record" records that the Washe Goulan was very noisy at that time, and tourists were like clouds. "Although there are many people in the shed, it is like this every day."

At that time, "speaking" was an important skill and was deeply loved by people. There are also many artists who can talk. According to "Old Wulin Stories", there were about 100 talking artists in Lin 'an City in the Southern Song Dynasty alone.

At the same time, the division of labor between speaking artists is becoming more and more detailed. Due to the differences in content and form and their respective specialties, "Shuo" can be divided into four categories: novel, iron riding, classics and history.

Among the four families, novels and storytelling have the greatest influence, especially novelists. Because the novel is basically based on the life of ordinary people in the city, it reflects the reality most directly and timely, and the story content is familiar to the public, which can truly reflect the thoughts, feelings and ideals of the citizens, so it was the most popular at that time.

Novelists also have advantages over other writers in artistic skills. Capital Jisheng once pointed out that people who tell history books are "most afraid of novelists, and those who cover novels can tell stories from generation to generation in an instant."

"Breaking in an instant" means breaking the ending on the spot and telling the story at once.

Dream of Liang Lu points out that the novel has the characteristics of "kneading". The so-called "kneading" means that novels can integrate social news and speech content at that time; The second refers to fiction.

With the development of speaking skills, speaking artists gradually have their own professional guild organizations. For example, novelists in Hangzhou set up their own guild organization called "Eloquence Society".