Ningbo Zoushu (Narrative Ballad)

Ningbo Zoushu, also called "lotus script" or "plow script," took shape around the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns of the late Qing and spread through Ningbo and nearby areas as a storytelling art sung in the local dialect.

Performers alternate speech and song while moving about the stage, accompanied by strings, and excel at unfolding long narratives; the name "zoushu," or "walking storytelling," comes from this on-stage movement.

In 2008 Ningbo Zoushu entered the second batch of national ICH, declared by Yinzhou District of Ningbo, and stands as a representative ballad art of the local dialect.

It is preserved mainly in cultural centers and village storytelling halls around Yinzhou and Fenghua.