Commonly known as "selling pear candy", it began in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. It was originally a rap that sang news and promoted product advertisements, and sold pear candy in exchange for tickets. Later, Du Baolin rapped various jokes and current affairs news based on his singing tune. The content mostly satirized the dark social phenomena at that time. In order to avoid persecution and trouble, he took the stage name "Xiao Rehun". Later, "Xiaorehun" was adopted as the genre name. Xiaorehun is usually sung in the open air. The form is simple, with a tripod and a bench representing the stage. One or two people sing in tandem, accompanied by small gongs or trinkets. Usually, a small gong is played first to attract the audience, then jokes and news are told, and finally a long song is sung. Commonly used tunes include "Gong Xianfeng", "Sanqiao Fu", "Dongxiang Diao" and popular minor tunes such as "Wugeng", "Four Seasons" and "Ten Sighs".
Where does "Little Hot Fainting" come from? Like most folk art forms, it may come from folk entertainment. In the past, the biggest entertainment activity during the off-season was probably to set up a grass stage troupe, and folk artists would appear on stage one after another. In ancient times, China was a rural society, and if we were to talk about celebrities, they were all in the cities. It's even harder to hire famous actors, let alone how many actors there are in the country. Inviting them to come is a waste of money and effort. Chinese farmers are the most economical, so this is certainly not cost-effective. Anyway, as long as everyone can get together and have fun, there are not so many poor and particular people in the city. Folk artists trained in this kind of environment are bound to be able to sing a few lines in any opera and play some musical instruments.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's urbanization level accelerated rapidly. Folk artists moved to the city to make a living. It is even more difficult to make a living by performing arts, so starting a small business has become a better choice. Selling "Chao Bao" may have become a good choice. "Chaobao", as the name suggests, is a newspaper sold in the morning. Most of them are local tabloids. The content is naturally about murders, strange things, and extraordinary social news. In order to attract readers, passers-by are solicited to buy newspapers.
This method must be very good, and it was quickly accepted by people. Later, maybe the newspaper seller wanted to increase his income and started selling pear candy, or the candy seller wanted to learn this kind of promotion method. Gradually, the pear candy sellers started rapping about the news and selling candies at the same time. There was a popular saying in Hangzhou at that time: "Big business is open, while small business sells sugar." Generally speaking, the candy sellers did better than the newspaper sellers. Gradually, people remembered the pear candy and forgot about the morning newspapers.
In troubled times, "Rehun" is really sober
The founder of Hangzhou Xiaorehun, which is now recognized as having an important influence on later generations, is the famous artist Du Baolin. Du Baolin's early master Chen Changsheng's stage name was "Ma Deli" (some say "little profit"), which means immediate profit. Chen Changsheng chatted and made jokes during his performance. Due to the limitations of the Jianghu artists themselves, the content contained many low-level tastes. They were despised by some self-proclaimed colleagues and were called "blind, hot and faint". There is also a word for "hot faint" in Shanghainese dialect. Originally a Suzhou dialect, it is a derogatory term, which means that a person loses control of his speech and behavior due to a fever, so that he talks nonsense and behaves wildly. After Du Baolin became a disciple of Chen Changsheng, he took over the mantle of his master's nickname "Blind Rehun" and took his own stage name of "Xiao Rehun". It not only shows where the teacher is from, but also shows another layer of self-protection.
The daily content in the morning newspaper was compiled into a aria by Du Baolin, which was the content of Du Baolin's performance. If there is different news, there will be performances with different content in the evening. Audiences who do not read newspapers or are illiterate will get the news of the day from Du Baolin's performances. The daily morning news is the source of Du Baolin's compositions.
Ding Yousheng, Du Baolin's favorite disciple, is even more outstanding. Not only compile the contents of the morning newspaper. He also went among the people and covered the news of the day on the streets. It often happens that the news that Ding Yousheng has finished his performance is what appears in the newspapers the next day. For example, gambling has been repeatedly banned in society. Ding Yousheng made up jokes about "Encouragement to Gambling" and "Encircling Prostitutes." After listening to Ding Yousheng's enthusiasm, those who originally loved gambling stopped gambling, and those who loved whoring stopped engaging in prostitution. When there was discord between neighbors, parents-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, he would make up jokes and perform them, educating many people. There was a group of people in Hangzhou at that time who liked to listen to Ding Yousheng's news. They followed Ding Yousheng wherever he went.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it was a time of social turmoil, internal and external troubles, natural disasters and man-made disasters, coupled with the dark social reality, would inevitably produce many sensitive stories of human affairs. As an artist, I often have to take advantage of topics and take the opportunity to criticize and ridicule the current affairs of the government.
Du Baolin was extremely upright and outspoken. In that era of "don't talk about state affairs", he would inevitably offend the authorities and cause trouble. To prevent anyone from causing trouble. He could only use "hot faint" as an excuse, which meant that he was dizzy and talking nonsense and could not be taken seriously. Moreover, the word "hot faint" is both humorous and catchy. "Xiao Rehun" has gradually changed from Du Baolin's stage name to become synonymous with "rap and sell candy". The originally self-deprecating name "Xiao Rehun" has continued with the vicissitudes of history with its unique sobriety and sense of justice in troubled times. It has been passed down to this day.
Xiaorehun’s wardrobe and special gimmicks
When Xiaorehun artists work in the streets, they first put on a stand (made of bamboo or wood, which can be disassembled). There is a wooden box (called "selling bag" in the artist's jargon) with pear paste candy placed on it (called "Bridge" in the artist's jargon). On the box are placed a small gong, a small gong piece, and three moso bamboo boards (or wooden boards). Because of its small size, it is named "Three Qiao Board". There is also a fan, a piece of wake wood, a lotus board, a small drum, etc. There is a bench next to the box. When two people are performing, there is an additional bench. If the performance is performed at night, it is hung. Two lights are lit. The performer usually wears a long gown and a folded hat, commonly known as a "qiu hat". The performer stands on a bench and beats the gong to attract the audience, and knocks the gong to calm the audience. When you hear the beating of bamboo boards and the sound of small gongs and drums, the audience will come from all directions, because everyone knows that the sound of the small gong is the beginning of the show.
In order to attract and attract attention. To calm the audience's mood, the artist starts by telling some sporadic jokes, commonly known as "small sales". The content is familiar and interesting to everyone.
After telling the small jokes, he first sings "Gong Pioneer". Mainly singing, with occasional speaking, because before each verse begins, a small gong must be played as the pioneer, and a small gong and drum with rhythm changes must be played as a "pass" before singing, so the artist calls it the "Gong Pioneer" After singing "Gong Xianfeng", the audience has been completely attracted. Therefore, the Gong Xianfeng artist is commonly known as "hanging", which means to attract the audience. Then he tells a funny joke and the artist improvises according to the changes in the audience's mood. , commonly known as "selling words". "selling words" means telling jokes. Why not call it "selling laughter"? Because people are accustomed to calling the life of prostitutes and brothel girls "selling laughter", and this "laughing" is different from that of "selling laughter". "Laugh", there is an essential difference.
The next step is the formal rap part, which is usually the artist's best joke. In form, there is one person, and there are also two people. But the rap of two people , one person is required to sing the lead vocals, and the other is "entrusted" to sing.
Xiaorehun sells the vocal performance
The performance performed by one person is called "single selling vocal performance", and the performance performed by two people is called "double selling vocal performance". " or "double-stage selling". Selling attaches great importance to the introduction and foreshadowing of the opening, which is similar to the "introduction" in traditional commentaries and the "tantou" in Tanhuang folk art. You can also tell a small joke first, and then introduce the same The main topic of the theme. For example, before Du Baolin talked about "Dark Souls", he first told a joke about "Zi Lu Buying Wontons". The main idea was that when Confucius asked Zi Lu to buy wontons and walked back, a leaf happened to fall in the bowl. Unable to move, he bit out the leaves with his mouth. Unexpectedly, Confucius saw it and said that Zilu was eating wontons secretly. Then he changed the subject and said, "If the sage didn't realize the truth, there must be a lot of injustice in the world." Then turn to the main story, and it will be a matter of course. "In fact, it is a story that has been told badly, but replacing the dry rice with the wood-cut wontons that Shanghainese love to see is enough to make people laugh.
The form of selling words was adopted in 1972. After Jiang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele brought it to Shanghai to perform, it was widely adopted by comedy artists. Later, many new names were derived: old selling mouth, new selling mouth, flexible buying mouth, piecemeal selling mouth, tie-in selling mouth, etc. The "term" in today's comedy world. This is why it is the interface between Hangzhou Xiaorehun and Shanghai Comics.