TY - JOUR
T1 - A culture hero
T2 - Xiangsheng (crosstalk) performer Guo Degang
AU - Cai, Shenshen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - As one of the most popular performing arts of China the inherent function of xiangsheng is entertainment. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), xiangsheng was enlisted by the official propaganda machine as a tool for promoting political and social objectives. The transformation of xiangsheng was pioneered in the 1950s by the Small Group for the Improvement of Xiangsheng (Beijing xiangsheng gaijin xiaozu, hereafter referred to as "the Group"), who championed the merging of this grassroots people's form of entertainment, with a political agenda. By the end of the Cultural Revolution, xiangsheng was employed to mock and deride the Gang of Four; however, it was not until the middle of the 1980s that xiangsheng performance started to disengage from its official role and gradually resume its indigenous social function as genuine satire. In the recent decade, one emerging xiangsheng master, Guo Degang, has been very influential in carrying out this transformation. Just as the members of the Group shifted the social function of xiangsheng from entertainment to the political tool of "serving the party," Guo Degang has been turning its focus back to "serving the people" as a means of entertainment and social criticism. This article will examine how Guo has resurrected the essence of xiang sheng, successfully commercialized it in a market economy, and simultaneously deconstructed the official discourse through grassroots means.
AB - As one of the most popular performing arts of China the inherent function of xiangsheng is entertainment. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), xiangsheng was enlisted by the official propaganda machine as a tool for promoting political and social objectives. The transformation of xiangsheng was pioneered in the 1950s by the Small Group for the Improvement of Xiangsheng (Beijing xiangsheng gaijin xiaozu, hereafter referred to as "the Group"), who championed the merging of this grassroots people's form of entertainment, with a political agenda. By the end of the Cultural Revolution, xiangsheng was employed to mock and deride the Gang of Four; however, it was not until the middle of the 1980s that xiangsheng performance started to disengage from its official role and gradually resume its indigenous social function as genuine satire. In the recent decade, one emerging xiangsheng master, Guo Degang, has been very influential in carrying out this transformation. Just as the members of the Group shifted the social function of xiangsheng from entertainment to the political tool of "serving the party," Guo Degang has been turning its focus back to "serving the people" as a means of entertainment and social criticism. This article will examine how Guo has resurrected the essence of xiang sheng, successfully commercialized it in a market economy, and simultaneously deconstructed the official discourse through grassroots means.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961904381&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/atj.2016.0000
DO - 10.1353/atj.2016.0000
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84961904381
SN - 0742-5457
VL - 33
SP - 82
EP - 103
JO - Asian Theatre Journal
JF - Asian Theatre Journal
IS - 1
ER -