This book explores xiangsheng, one of the most popular folk art performance genres in China, its enlistment by official propaganda machine after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its revival in popularity under Guo Degang and his Deyun Club. Just as the 1950’s saw the shift of xiangsheng ‘s social function from entertainment to the political tool of ‘serving the party’, Guo Degang has completed the paradigm shift by turning its focus back to ‘serving the people’ as a means of entertainment and social criticism. This volume examines how Guo has resurrected the essence of xiangsheng, successfully commercialised it in a market economy, and simultaneously deconstructed the official discourse through grassroots means.

Xiangsheng and Politics in China
Guo Degang and Entertainment in China
The Deyun Club and Xiangsheng
Folk-Art Entertainment in Contemporary China
Cultural Dictatorship in China
Moral Discipline and Folk Arts in China

• Front Matter
• Xiangsheng in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1976
• Xiangsheng 1976–2000
• The Revival of Xiangsheng in the New Millennium
• Guo Degang’s Counter-Official Xiangsheng Performance
• Deyun Club Holds Up Half the Sky of Xiangsheng Performance
• Guo Degang as a Grassroots Culture Hero
• Concluding Remarks
• Back Matter

Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia
Shenshen Cai, Emily Dunn

Book Title
Xiangsheng and the Emergence of Guo Degang in Contemporary China

Authors
Shenshen Cai, Emily Dunn

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8116-8

Hardcover ISBN
978-981-15-8115-1
Published: 18 October 2020

Softcover ISBN
978-981-15-8118-2
Published: 19 October 2021

eBook ISBN
978-981-15-8116-8
Published: 17 October 2020

Edition Number
1

Number of Pages
IX, 146

Number of Illustrations
1 b/w illustrations

Topics
Comedy Studies, History of China, Cultural Studies