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Pingshu
''Pingshu'' () or ''pinghua'' () refers to the traditional Han Chinese performing art of storytelling with no musical accompaniment. It is better known as ''pingshu'' in northern China and ''pinghua'' in southern China. Performing art Pingshu was extremely popular in the 1980s, when the Chinese people were able to afford radios, through which many of such radio drama programs were transmitted to every household. People, young and old, would stick to the radio when they had the time, listening to these storytellings, many of which originated from ancient Chinese history. In the countryside, farmers would take radios to their fields and listen to the stories while they were working. In cities, old men would sit in a comfortable bamboo chair enjoying the stories while sipping tea. Many stories such as '' General Yue Fei'' (), the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (), '' Cavalier with White Eyebrows'' (), and '' Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties'' () gained popularity among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shan Tianfang
Shan Chuanzhong (; 17 December 1934 – 11 September 2018), better known by stage name Shan Tianfang (), was a Chinese ''pingshu'' performer. He was a member of the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage inheritors, a member of Chinese Ballad Singers Association and a member of China Society for Literature Popular Research. His language in ''pingshu'' performances was relatively plain, and he specialized in presenting the images, colors and emotions with sound impressions. Since the mid-1990s, his storytelling video shows have been broadcast on TV stations like CCTV. ''Pingshu'' career Early years In the 1950s, Shan's father was wrongly put into prison, thus his mother divorced his father. In 1953, he was accepted into Northeast Institute of Technology. Subsequently, however due to his physical condition and family problems, he gave up his studies and turned to perform ''pingshu'', as an apprentice of Li Qinghai (Chinese 李庆海). In 1955, Shan entered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Literature
The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 BC220 AD) and Tang dynasty, Tang (618–907 AD) dynasties were considered golden ages of poetry, while the Song dynasty, Song (960–1279) and Yuan dynasty, Yuan (1271–1368) were notable for their lyrics (''ci''), essays, dramas, and plays. During the Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing, mature novels were written in written vernacular Chinese, an evolution from the preeminence of Literary Chinese patterned off the language of the Chinese classics. The introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang and the invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song rapidly spread written knowledge throughout China. Around the turn of the 20th century, the author Lu Xun (1881–1936) is considered an influential voi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension." Radio drama includes plays specifically written for radio, docudrama, dramatised works of fiction, as well as Play (theatre), plays originally written for the theatre, including musical theatre, and opera. Radio drama achieved widespread popularity within a decade of its initial development in the 1920s. By the 1940s, it was a leading international popular entertainment. With the advent of television in the 1950s, radio drama began losing its audience. However, it remains popular in much of the world. Recordings of OTR (old-time radio) survive today in the audio archives of collectors, lib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the age of cassettes, compact discs, and downloadable audio, often of poetry and plays rather than books. It was not until the 1980s that the medium began to attract book retailers, and then book retailers started displaying audiobooks on bookshelves rather than in separate displays. Etymology The term "talking book" came into being in the 1930s with government programs designed for blind readers, while the term "audiobook" came into use during the 1970s when audiocassettes began to replace phonograph records. In 1994, the Audio Publishers Association established the term "audiobook" as the industry standard. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a Black magic, dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people). The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Corporation, Scholastic Press in the United States. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery (fiction), mystery, thriller (genre), thrille ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northeast China
Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The region is separated from the Russian Far East to the north and east by the Amur, Argun and Ussuri Rivers; from North Korea to the south by the Yalu and Tumen Rivers; and from the neighboring North China to the west by the Greater Khingan Range and Yan Mountains. It is also bounded by the Bohai Bay and Yellow Sea to the southwest, about away from East China's Jiaodong Peninsula across the Bohai Strait, due to be connected via a proposed undersea tunnel. The four prefectures of Inner Mongolia (which is part of North China) east of the Greater Khingan, i.e. Chifeng, Tongliao, Hinggan and Hulunbuir, are sometimes also considered broader parts of Northeast China, and together with the aforementioned three provinces formed what was h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North China
North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities Beijing and Tianjin, the provinces of China, provinces Hebei and Shanxi, and the autonomous regions of China, autonomous region Inner Mongolia (although the four prefecture (China), prefectures east of the Greater Khingan Range are sometimes regarded as parts of Northeast China). Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line, with its heartland in the North China Plain. Most inhabitants here speak variants of Northern Chinese languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin, which includes the Beijing dialect and its cousin variants. The Beijing dialect is largely the basis of Standard Chinese (or Standard Mandarin), the official language of the People's Republic of China. Jin Chinese an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vehicle Audio
Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the occupants. Such systems are popularly known as car stereos. Until the 1950s, it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8-track tape players, Cassette decks, record players, CD players, DVD players, Blu-ray players, navigation systems, Bluetooth telephone integration and audio streaming, and smartphone controllers like CarPlay and Android Auto. Once controlled from the dashboard with a few buttons, they can be controlled by steering wheel controls and voice commands. Initially implemented for listening to music and radio, vehicle audio is now part of car telematics, telecommunications, in-vehicle security, handsfree calling, navigation, and remote diagnostics systems. The same loudspeakers may also be used to minimize road and engine noise with active noise control, or they may be used to augment engine sounds, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavel
A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet/hammer commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the capacity of a presiding officer. It is often struck against a sound block, a striking surface typically also made of hardwood, to enhance its sounding qualities. It is primarily used in live auctions. According to tradition, Vice President of the United States John Adams used a gavel as a call to order in the first U.S. Senate in New York in 1789. Since then, it has remained customary to tap the gavel against a lectern or desk to indicate the opening and closing of proceedings and, in the United States, to indicate that a judge's decision is final. Usage differs between cultures, but it is also generally used to keep the meeting itself calm and orderly. Etymology In medieval England, the word ''gavel'' could refer to a tribute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
