What is Chinese Quyi?It is a Collective Term of Various Narrative-Singing Arts

Quyi is a collective term of various narrative-singing arts of the Chinese people.It is an integrated performance art telling stories,shaping characters, and expressing thoughts and feelings by combining narrating and singing,also one of the art categories with the longest history and most profound traditions. As a narrative genre of music combining narrating and singing, quyi emphasizes using spoken language,attractive content, and vocal tunes (chang qiang) of the music should be suitable for narrating,and the tune ofthe chang qiang can be repeated. The addition of facial expressions, movements and dancing also serve in "narrative-singing."

The origin of ancient quyi of China can be traced back to the reciting of songs called chengxiang in the Warring States Period,the funny and humorous performance of paiyou actors in the pre-Qin period, and the responsive songs in Han and Wei dynasties.By the Tang Dynasty, su jiang, an art form of telling folk tales and Buddhism stories to the public appeared; daqu and folk tunes became popular, which helped narrative arts and singing arts flourish. As a result, quyi gradually came into being as an independent art form. In the Song Dynasty,because of the development of commodity economy,the prosperity of cities, and the growth of citizen class, narrative performances began to have special venues,and professional narrative artists also appeared. Guzici,zhugongdiao,changzhuan and other singing performances became extremely popular, about which Dongjing Menghualu (EasternCapital Dreams) written by Meng Yuanlao, Ducheng Jisheng (Capital Records) had detailed descriptions.From the Ming and Qing periods to the Republic of China period, with the budding of a capitalist economy,cities increased in great number, which greatly promoted the development of narrative-singing art. On the one hand, folk narrative-singing with a thick local flavor flowed to the cities, such as the arts of daoqing, lianhualuo, fengyang huagu,and bawangbian; on the other hand, some old art forms varied by combining local and dialectical features, such as the Cihua inn the Yuan and Ming dynasties gradually evolved to tanci in the south and guci in the north. In this period, new quyi varieties and pieces kept emerging.Most of the quyi varieties we see today in China are the varieties passed down from the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China period.