http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af006006 Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling Video Collection AFC 2004/021 Prepared by Sarah Bradley Leighton American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
November 2005 Guides to the Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture

Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2005700224

Encoded by Judy Ng and Amarantha Dyuaaxchs, August 2006 ; Revised by Nora Yeh Finding aid written in English August 2009 Nora Yeh Collection Summary AFC 2004/021 Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling Video Collection 2001-2004 Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
3.3 linear feet (4 boxes) containing 1 monograph with 408 pages and 361 video compact discs (VCDs). Børdahl, Vibeke Chinese, Yangzhou dialect; English The entire repertories of four master storytellers, Dai Buzhang, Fei Zhengliang (Fei Li), Gao Zaihua, and Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) were recorded on video for the project "Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling" from 2001 to 2003 in Yangzhou. In addition, a medium-length repertoire was told by Ren Dekun. Project co-leaders were Fei Li and Vibeke Børdahl, project assistant, co-editor and translator was Huang Ying, Yangzhou University; photographers were Li Xin and Chen Wei, Yangzhou. Yangzhou storytelling (Yangzhou pinghua) is oral narrative, primarily in Yangzhou dialect, performed with gestures and learned through apprenticeship with a professional master storyteller. Scope and Content

This collection is the product of the "Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling" conducted by Dr. Vibeke Børdahl and Fei Li between 2001 and 2003. During this project, the repertories of four masters of Chinese storytelling in Yangzhou - Dai Buzhang, Fei Zhengliang (Fei Li), Gao Zaihua, and Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) - were filmed on video for a total of 360 hours of storytelling. The videotapes were then converted into sets of video compact discs (VCDs) and donated to research institutions in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

The four masters recorded for the project were Dai Buzhang of the Dai school of Journey to the West, Fei Zhengliang (Fei Zhengliang is the artistic name for Fei Li.) of the Wu school of Three Kingdoms, Gao Zaihua of the Kang school of Three Kingdoms, and Ren Jitang (Ren Jitang is the artistic name for Ren Dekun.) of the Wang school of Water Margin. The collection also includes a medium-length repertory, Emperor Qian Long Goes South, told by Ren Jitang. The collection is accompanied by the monograph, Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video, edited by Vibeke Børdahl, Fei Li, and Huang Ying. This book provides summaries of the content on each VCD, biographical information about each of the four masters, and descriptive articles about Chinese storytelling in Yangzhou in both Chinese and English.

 Biographical History

Vibeke Børdahl, Ph.D., is a senior researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has taught Chinese language and literature at the University of Aarhus, the University of Oslo, and the University of Copenhagen, and has published books related to Chinese storytelling listed below. Dr. Børdahl directed the "Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling" project and her work is featured on a web site about Chinese storytelling at http://www.shuoshu.org/

Bibliography Børdahl, Vibeke. Along the Broad Road of Realism: Qin Zhaoyang's World of Fiction (London: Curzon Press, 1990) Børdahl, Vibeke. The Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996) Børdahl, Vibeke, ed., The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Literature in Modern China (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1999) Børdahl, Vibeke and Jette Ross. Chinese Storytellers: Life and Art in the Yangzhou Tradition (Boston: Cheng and Tsui Co., 2002)

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

 People Børdahl, Vibeke, collector. Børdahl, Vibeke. Four masters of Chinese storytelling. Dai, Buzhang, 1925-2003. Fei, Li, collector, performer. Gao, Zaihua, performer. Ren, Jitang, performer. Subjects Folklore--China--Yangzhou Shi. Oral tradition--China--Yangzhou Shi. Ping shu--China--Yangzhou Shi. Storytellers--China--Yangzhou Shi. Storytelling--China--Yangzhou Shi. Tales--China--Yangzhou Shi. Titles Four masters of Chinese storytelling, 2001-2004 Large-scale registration of Chinese storytelling Form/Genre Ethnographic films. Administrative Information Arrangement

The video compact discs (VCDs) were originally numbered for each storyteller's range of discs resulting in five series of numbers within the collection. During processing, each VCD was assigned a unique moving image (MV) number. A "Concordance for Moving Images" is included in the appendix of this finding aid to document the correspondence between the MV number and the original number of each VCD.

 Access

Duplication of the collection materials is governed by copyright and other restrictions.

 Acquisition

The VCDs produced during the "Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling" and the monograph, Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2004), were donated to the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center by Dr. Vibeke Børdahl in December 2004.

 Preferred Citation

Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling Video Collection (AFC 2004/021), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 Related Materials

The collection of VCDs is also on deposit at the library of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China; Fu Ssu-nien Library, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan; and Danish Folklore Archives in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video. Edited by Vibeke Børdahl, Fei Li, and Huang Ying. (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2004) is available in the Library of Congress general collection.

 Collection Concordance by Format Quantity Physical Extent (original) Location Item Numbers Manuscript Materials 408 pages in the monograph AFC, Box 1 Not applicable Moving Images 361 video compact discs (VCDs) AFC, Box 2-4 MV001-MV361
http://lccn.loc.gov/2005700224 Container List Series I: Manuscripts 1 1 Finding Aid.

15 pages.

 2 Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video.

Edited by Vibeke Børdahl, Fei Li, and Huang Ying. (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2004). This book provides a detailed log of the content on each VCD, biographical information about each of the four masters, and descriptive articles about Chinese storytelling in Yangzhou. 408 pages.

 Series II: Moving Images

To play a VCD with Windows Media Player, insert the VCD in the CD or DVD tray of your computer. Open the Windows Media Player, click on "File" and then "Open." A dialog box will appear, listing the MPEGAV folder. Under "Files of Type," select "Any File." A .dat file should appear in the dialog box. Double click on the .dat file, and the video will launch in the Windows Media Player view window.

 2 MV001 - MV100

Dai Buzhang performing Journey to the West in one hundred days of storytelling. Recorded April 8, 2003 - October 24, 2003.

 MV101 - MV150

Fei Li (Fei Zhengliang) performing the First Part of Three Kingdoms in fifty days of storytelling. Recorded April 8, 2003 - June 8, 2003.

 MV151 - MV172

Gao Zaihua performing the Central Part of Three Kingdoms in one hundred days of storytelling. Recorded April 5, 2002 - December 5, 2002.

 3 MV173 - MV260

Gao Zaihua continues performing the Central Part of Three Kingdoms in one hundred days of storytelling. Recorded April 5, 2002 - December 5, 2002.

 MV261 - MV342

Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing the Wu Song Saga from Water Margin in eighty-eight days of storytelling. Recorded April 5, 2002 - November 15, 2002.

 4 MV343 - MV348

Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) continues performing the Wu Song Saga from Water Margin in eighty-eight days of storytelling. Recorded April 5, 2002 - November 15, 2002.

 MV349 - MV360

Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing Emperor Qian Long Goes South in twelve days of storytelling. Recorded November 16, 2002 - December 3, 2002.

 MV361

The video compact disc that was included with the book, Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video, contains selections from each of the four masters on the first day of recording.

 Appendix I: Concordance for Moving Images Moving ImageNumber (MV) Original Number Description MV001 1 Dai Buzhang performing Journey to the West begins. MV002 2 MV003 3 MV004 4 MV005 5 MV006 6 MV007 7 MV008 8 MV009 9 MV010 10 MV011 11 MV012 12 MV013 13 MV014 14 MV015 15 MV016 16 MV017 17 MV018 18 MV019 19 MV020 20 MV021 21 MV022 22 MV023 23 MV024 24 MV025 25 MV026 26 MV027 27 MV028 28 MV029 29 MV030 30 MV031 31 MV032 32 MV033 33 MV034 34 MV035 35 MV036 36 MV037 37 MV038 38 MV039 39 MV040 40 MV041 41 MV042 42 MV043 43 MV044 44 MV045 45 MV046 46 MV047 47 MV048 48 MV049 49 MV050 50 MV051 51 MV052 52 MV053 53 MV054 54 MV055 55 MV056 56 MV057 57 MV058 58 MV059 59 MV060 60 MV061 61 MV062 62 MV063 63 MV064 64 MV065 65 MV066 66 MV067 67 MV068 68 MV069 69 MV070 70 MV071 71 MV072 72 MV073 73 MV074 74 MV075 75 MV076 76 MV077 77 MV078 78 MV079 79 MV080 80 MV081 81 MV082 82 MV083 83 MV084 84 MV085 85 MV086 86 MV087 87 MV088 88 MV089 89 MV090 90 MV091 91 MV092 92 MV093 93 MV094 94 MV095 95 MV096 96 MV097 97 MV098 98 MV099 99 MV100 100 Dai Buzhang performing Journey to the West ends. MV101 1 Fei Li (Fei Zhengliang) performing the First Part of Three Kingdoms begins. MV102 2 MV103 3 MV104 4 MV105 5 MV106 6 MV107 7 MV108 8 MV109 9 MV110 10 MV111 11 MV112 12 MV113 13 MV114 14 MV115 15 MV116 16 MV117 17 MV118 18 MV119 19 MV120 20 MV121 21 MV122 22 MV123 23 MV124 24 MV125 25 MV126 26 MV127 27 MV128 28 MV129 29 MV130 30 MV131 31 MV132 32 MV133 33 MV134 34 MV135 35 MV136 36 MV137 37 MV138 38 MV139 39 MV140 40 MV141 41 MV142 42 MV143 43 MV144 44 MV145 45 MV146 46 MV147 47 MV148 48 MV149 49 MV150 50 Fei Li (Fei Zhengliang) performing the First Part of Three Kingdoms ends. MV151 1 Gao Zaihua performing the Central Part of Three Kingdoms begins. MV152 2 MV153 3 MV154 4 MV155 5 MV156 6 MV157 7 MV158 8 MV159 9 MV160 10 MV161 11 MV162 12 MV163 13 MV164 14 MV165 15 MV166 16 MV167 17 MV168 18 MV169 19 MV170 20 MV171 21 MV172 22 MV173 23 MV174 24 MV175 25 MV176 26 MV177 27 MV178 28 MV179 29 MV180 30 MV181 31 MV182 32 MV183 33 MV184 34 MV185 35 MV186 36 MV187 37 MV188 38 MV189 39 MV190 40 MV191 41 MV192 42 MV193 43 MV194 44 MV195 45 MV196 46 MV197 47 MV198 48 MV199 49 MV200 50 MV201 51 MV202 52 MV203 53 MV204 54 MV205 55 MV206 56 MV207 57 MV208 58 MV209 59 MV210 60 MV211 61 MV212 62 MV213 63 MV214 64 MV215 65 MV216 66 MV217 67 MV218 68 MV219 69 MV220 70 MV221 71 MV222 72 MV223 73 MV224 74 MV225 75 MV226 76 MV227 77 MV228 78 MV229 79 MV230 80 MV231 81 MV232 82 MV233 83 MV234 84 MV235 85 MV236 86 MV237 87 MV238 88 MV239 89 MV240 90 MV241 91 MV242 92 MV243 93 MV244 94 MV245 95 MV246 96 MV247 97 MV248 98 MV249 99 MV250 100 MV251 101 MV252 102 MV253 103 MV254 104 MV255 105 MV256 106 MV257 107 MV258 108 MV259 109 MV260 110 Gao Zaihua performing the Central Part of Three Kingdoms ends. MV261 111 Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing the Wu Song Saga from Water Margin begins. MV262 2 MV263 3 MV264 4 MV265 5 MV266 6 MV267 7 MV268 8 MV269 9 MV270 10 MV271 11 MV272 12 MV273 13 MV274 14 MV275 15 MV276 16 MV277 17 MV278 18 MV279 19 MV280 20 MV281 21 MV282 22 MV283 23 MV284 24 MV285 25 MV286 26 MV287 27 MV288 28 MV289 29 MV290 30 MV291 31 MV292 32 MV293 33 MV294 34 MV295 35 MV296 36 MV297 37 MV298 38 MV299 39 MV300 40 MV301 41 MV302 42 MV303 43 MV304 44 MV305 45 MV306 46 MV307 47 MV308 48 MV309 49 MV310 50 MV311 51 MV312 52 MV313 53 MV314 54 MV315 55 MV316 56 MV317 57 MV318 58 MV319 59 MV320 60 MV321 61 MV322 62 MV323 63 MV324 64 MV325 65 MV326 66 MV327 67 MV328 68 MV329 69 MV330 70 MV331 71 MV332 72 MV333 73 MV334 74 MV335 75 MV336 76 MV337 77 MV338 78 MV339 79 MV340 80 MV341 81 MV342 82 MV343 83 MV344 84 MV345 85 MV346 86 MV347 87 MV348 88 Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing the Wu Song Saga from Water Margin ends. MV349 1 Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing Emperor Qian Long Goes South begins. MV350 2 MV351 3 MV352 4 MV353 5 MV354 6 MV355 7 MV356 8 MV357 9 MV358 10 MV359 11 MV360 12 Ren Jitang (Ren Dekun) performing Emperor Qian Long Goes South ends. MV361 Not applicable The video compact disc that was included with the book, Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling: Full-Length Repertoires of Yangzhou Storytelling on Video, contains selections from each of the four masters on the first day of recording.