Related information about rakugo

The rakugo described by Zhou Zuoren

In fact, Japan also has stand-up comedy, which was introduced earlier in Zhou Zuoren's "Japanese Rakugo". He began by quoting Huang Zunxian's "Records of Japan: Etiquette and Customs 3":

"Reciting ancient and modern events as an excuse to make a living is called an acting historian or a rakugo artist. He must hold a fan in his hand, laughing and crying. Singing or drunkenness, he opens his hands and eyes, crosses his knees and twists his waist, like a woman, learns to speak absurdly, uses falsetto to write figures, makes imaginary gestures, and is inexhaustible about human feelings and the world. Therefore, it is called rakuyu."

Zhou Zuoren quoted Huang Zunxian's words in "Japanese rakuyu" and later revised Huang's statement. He said, "Japanese storytelling is now called 'talking', and rakugo is the Chinese way of telling jokes." He added, "I find it strange why China doesn't have this kind of thing. We only know serious storytelling and joking. It is true that there is no such thing as telling jokes, but it is just a personal pastime, and there is no such art in the circus. There seems to be a shortage of funny elements in Chinese literature and art." This shows Zhou Zuoren's understanding of cross talk. It was still "making jokes", although his fellow Shaoxing native Zhu Shaowen had already been doing cross talk on Beijing Tianqiao, and it was said that he often satirized the Qing authorities - the cross talk was of course based on satire, but he did not appreciate it or was not familiar with it.