Jiaodong Dagu (Storytelling Drum)

Jiaodong dagu is a quyi form popular across the Jiaodong Peninsula with about two and a half centuries of history, characterised by Shandong-dialect recitation and singing to the beat of a drum, once the chief entertainment of village temple fairs and town teahouses. It is listed among the national ICH items under quyi, with Yantai as one of its key places of transmission and Qingdao as a co-declaring region.

The performer holds steel clappers and a drumstick, beating and singing at once in a high, rugged voice with witty spoken passages, the repertoire drawn from folk tales, historical romances and current news, richly rustic and beloved of the Jiaodong people.

Jiaodong dagu represents the quyi culture of the Jiaodong Peninsula, carrying the region's dialect art and oral narrative tradition, and holds real value for the study of how Shandong's storytelling arts evolved and how rural society lived.