Xiao Re Hun (Storytelling Patter)

Also called "small-gong tales," xiao re hun spread across the lower Yangtze and grew from late-Qing Hangzhou street "news chanting." In 1905 the performer Du Baolin fused it with selling herbal candy into narrative patter, inscribed as national ICH in 2006.

Performed in the open with a trestle and bench for a stage, one or two players trade lines to small gong or clapper, chanting news and droll tales in genuine Hangzhou dialect.

A living vessel of Hangzhou's street culture and dialect art, witty and satirical, it was once a mainstay of neighborhood entertainment.