What is the origin of storytelling?

Beijing storytelling is the birthplace of storytelling. Beijing is the imperial capital at the foot of the son of heaven, with a strong cultural atmosphere. In the past, many storytellers often went to the teahouse outside the Zhonghua Gate of the Forbidden City. Because of delivering documents, foreign officials waiting to be summoned often sit in teahouses and tell anecdotes, which are recorded by interested artists. Beijing storytelling is exquisite in description and life content.

Recently, I had the honor to have a close communication with Lian Liru, the inheritor of Beijing dialect. She is wearing a Chinese double-breasted shirt. Although her temples are gray, she is full of aura. Speaking of Beijing storytelling, there are several treasures. She said that there are two kinds of storytelling in Beijing: robes with books and short books. The former emphasizes history and talks about fighting on horseback, such as Romance of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Ming Yinglie. Colorful flags are mainly martial arts, such as the Fighter Map of Yongzheng.

The library disappeared completely.

Talented storytellers in Beijing.

Lian Liru said that in the era of her father Lian Kuoru, there were more than 65,438,000 book teahouses in Beijing, and there were more than 40 when she was speaking. Every teahouse tells stories twice a day, so how many storytellers are there? But it's hard to find a library now. Live storytelling is just different from TV broadcasting. In her words, it is full of energy. As long as the audience comes in, she can stop him. Today's audience is cultivated through TV broadcasting and storytelling. They have never been to the library to listen to books and have no such habit.

Lian Liru opened a Yueminglou Bookstore the year before last, and 99% of the people who came to listen to the books were young people, the oldest being in their forties. Their cultural quality is very high, and they all say that "the on-site storytelling turned out to be so good. I used to drink with my clients, but now I enjoy tea and listen to books in the library, and get in touch with the classical culture of China. Very comfortable. " A college student in Anshan comes every time he opens a book. He said that he loved to listen to storytelling since he was a child, but he listened to it through the electric box. Now he understands that the real story-telling is like this. Lian Liru was very happy. However, after four months of operation, the bookstore finally stopped performing. "10 yuan, a ticket, all sold for 500 yuan, the bookstore is three or seven points, and the actor wants 350 yuan. What if there are only ten listeners? " Lian Liru is very helpless. After listening to Lian Liru's book in Yueminglou, Tian Lianyuan said with emotion: "You are purely dedicated."

Lian Liru's efforts have also been criticized by some people-opening a library is a retrogression in history. Lian Liru thinks this view is ridiculous, because storytelling is improved in practice. It's not a skill to write down a sentence and read it on the radio. The language of storytelling is alive, just remember a framework and outline, and improvise according to the audience's reaction at any time when telling a book. Only at the scene can we really talk about inheriting storytelling, and actors can only grow up at the scene. There are thousands of arts in the world, but storytelling is the most difficult to learn.

Lian Liru has never officially accepted an apprentice. She said: "If young people who like telling stories ask me for advice, I will teach them without reservation. But I don't think it's easy to accept an apprentice. It is difficult to learn storytelling. You should not only have talent and interest, but also be proficient in history and culture. This is a comprehensive quality. Moreover, one of the main reasons for the lack of storytelling successors is the disappearance of libraries. The audience listens to books in the library, and the newcomers practice in the library. Without a library, there would be no storytelling. It's difficult to learn storytelling, so you should be able to stand loneliness. Learn storytelling from me. How can I guarantee his life? Just say a radio recording, a 200 yuan, I am still tall, but where is the newcomer? There is no adaptation fee for adaptation, so I am used to following the script. I don't know how to pass it on. " According to Lian Liru, if there is no heir after her, the winning storytelling will disappear, which also means the death of Beijing storytelling.

Witness all kinds of strange situations.

The unsustainability of storytelling is also closely related to the impetuousness and irresponsibility of storytellers. Lian Liru sighed: "Speaking of this, I am quite sad." There are many books telling stories now, some of which are shoddy. If the radio wants them, the actors will rush into the horse. Some senior artists have been talking about a book all their lives, which is the condensation of their lifelong efforts. There are hundreds of them now, and it is inevitable that they are mixed and uneven.

A radio station in Anshan asked Lian Liru to record Water Margin. She thought the story was absurd and groundless, and flatly refused to record it, no matter how much she paid.

The quality of storytelling programs in some radio and television stations is not high, and they plan to engage in interpersonal relationships, but the storytelling editors have not carefully examined them. How can such a program conquer the audience?

The development of TV storytelling has entered a dead end. It is suggested that when telling a book, when talking about the Yangtze River, it should be accompanied by pictures of the Yangtze River. Lian Liru was very angry: it was a commentary with pictures. Storytelling is a language art, and you can tell the momentum of the Yangtze River with one mouth. When she talked about recording storytelling on Shenyang TV, she asked to take the audience. At that time, the person in charge hesitated: "No?" "Why not? Speaking to the camera, I don't feel how much money I give. " Not only that, she also asked her audience to be half young people. Without mobilizing young people, art cannot advance. It turns out that the effect is very good. She doesn't believe that the TV station recorded the scene of the library intact, and no one would go to read the storytelling full of interactive situations?

This building will collapse.

For more than 20 years, with the help of his lover Jia Jianguo, Lian Liru has compiled more than 2 million words of storytelling manuscripts. She said that what she was most grateful for in her life was her lover, and she sacrificed her career to fully support her. She has recorded several radio and television masterpieces, such as Eastern Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Ming Yinglie, and Yongzheng Swordsman Map, which were well received by the audience.

She told me that few people can say Beijing storytelling now. Although she has brought a few students, their cultural level can't keep up with the times. They can't make money just by telling books, and their art can't be improved without bookstores. She said that the trouble now is that there is no bookstore. As long as there are several bookstores in Beijing and famous actors from all over the world take turns to go into battle, storytelling can "stand up", but the reality is cruel.

"It's not my fault, I can't reverse GanKun alone. I am now collecting some articles about my father in the past newspapers. In addition, Mr. Li Xinquan, a famous storyteller in Beijing, passed all his short stories to me before his death. When his old man was seriously ill and paralyzed in bed, he also taught me "Yongzheng swordsman", and I have recorded the first half. I would also like to thank Mr. Jia Zhu, an expert in Qing history. When he was seriously ill in the late 1990s, he told his family, "You don't have to tell him the phone number after ten o'clock, but Lian Liru must tell him about the phone call, because she must be in trouble." He knows I'm talking about "The Swordsman of Yongzheng". Li Xinquan didn't understand the meaning of the word "Aolong" when telling stories. I went to ask Teacher Zhu, who told her that "Proud Dragon" was a mandarin jacket in a critical period. This is a title between Manchu and Chinese, and you can know how much knowledge the storyteller needs to cram into his stomach. I'm doing my best. It's not a question of fame or not. I feel that I am shouldering such a mission and entrusted by many predecessors. "

"I tried to apply for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, Dai of the expert group appealed, but other experts thought storytelling was very strong, and radio and television stations could be seen everywhere. I think if experts sit in the library and listen to books twice. What a wonderful art', someone once asked, there is no successor. I am old, and I am 64 years old this year. We can talk for a few days. I don't have the strength to return to the sky alone. "

A person's achievements are easily known outside his own unit.

In the 1990s, art went abroad. 1993, Lian Liru began to spread continuous shooting's storytelling overseas, telling stories about the Three Kingdoms in Singapore and Malaysia successively, and broadcast The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, A Dream of Red Mansions, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio and The Duke Of Mount Deer on TV, which caused great repercussions among local Chinese. After a book was finished, they chased Lian Liru and asked, "Teacher Lian, what's going on behind?" Malaysian Chinese culture is particularly strong, and there are associations with The Romance of the Three Kingdoms everywhere, which has become a must-read for the whole people. She is proud of the profoundness of China's traditional culture, full of joy, and even plans to set up a library abroad. In 2002, she went to the United States and gave lectures on storytelling culture in dozens of universities such as Harvard and MIT, so that people could learn about the history, culture and folk customs of China through storytelling. Young people drive their parents to listen to storytelling, mostly out of filial piety, because they were born in the United States and have no cultural background in China. But after listening to her book for the first time, these young people are extremely happy: "Mom, when will you come to listen tomorrow?" Lian Liru said that she was surprised that foreigners were so fascinated by storytelling. In contrast, the domestic storytelling market is very deserted, which makes her a little chilling.