Tan Zhenshan Folk Tales

Tan Zhenshan (1925–2011) was born in Taipingzhuang in Xinmin, Liaoning, a celebrated storyteller of the Liao River basin whose tales, passed down through family and village by word of mouth, form a complete personal repertoire.

Tan could tell some six hundred tales—stories of migration into the northeast, place legends, spirit tales, historical-figure legends, everyday stories and jokes—all transmitted by oral telling.

His tales are among the largest single-bearer bodies of Chinese folk story; the project entered the first national intangible heritage list in 2006, and in 1992 he was invited to Japan to tell Chinese folk tales abroad.