The 2015 Contest of Baojuan Performers and Academic Conference in Zhoupu and Modernized “Scroll Recitation” in Pudong

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

The 2015 Contest of Baojuan Performers and Academic Conference in Zhoupu and Modernized “Scroll Recitation” in Pudong Rostislav Berezkin (bio) Rostislav Berezkin Fudan University Rostislav Berezkin Rostislav Berezkin obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the candidate of sciences degree from Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. Currently he is an Associate Research Fellow at the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University. His main fields of research are religious storytelling and popular religion in late imperial China. His publications in Russian include a book on the function of precious scrolls (baojuan) in Chinese culture, with the Baojuan about the Three Rebirths of Mulian as an example. His English book Many Faces of Mulian: The Precious Scroll of Late Imperial China is forthcoming (University of Washington Press, 2017). His English articles have been published in T’oung Pao, Late Imperial China, Asia Major, Monumenta Serica, Journal of Chinese Religions, Hanxue Yanjiu, Religion and the Arts, Minsu quyi, Archiv Orientalni, Ming Studies, and CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature. He also has published a number of articles in Chinese and Russian. Footnotes 1. See, for example, “Qiannian baojuan Jinxi chuanchang —2009 Jiang Zhe Hu xuanjuan yan-chang, jiaoliu huodong” 千年寶卷錦溪傳唱—2009 江浙滬宣卷演唱, 交流活動 (A thousand years of transmission of baojuan in Jinxi—2009 Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai telling scrolls performance and colloquium activity), Wenhua shichang 文化市場 (The cultural market) 2009.3: 15. 2. See, for example, Che Xilun 車 錫倫, “Du Qing mo Jiang Yuzhen bian Xingxin baojuan— Jian tan ‘xuanjiang’ (Shengyu, shanshu) yu ‘xuanjuan’ (baojuan)” 讀清末蔣玉真編《醒心寶卷》 —兼談 “宣講” (聖諭, 善書) 與 “宣卷” (Reading the late Qing Waking the Heart Precious Scroll by Jiang Yuzhen—With a discussion of “telling” (the Sacred Edict and morality books) and “telling scrolls,” Wenxue yichan 文學遺產 (Literary heritage) 2010.2: 131–35. 3. “Wooden fish” (muyu 木魚) is a percussion instrument used in different religious and storytelling traditions. 4. See Rostislav Berezkin, “An Analysis of ‘Telling Scriptures’ (Jiangjing) during Temple Festivals in Gangkou (Zhangjiagang), with Special Attention to the Status of the Performers,” CHINOPERL Papers 30 (2011): 53–55. 5. See Wei Jie 魏捷, “Shi tan xuanjuan” 試談宣卷 (An exploratory discussion of telling scriptures), Shanghai wenhua shi zhi tongxun 上海文化史志通訊 (Shanghai cultural history newsletter) 1993.25: 60–61; Zhongguo quyi yinyue jicheng: Shanghai juan 中國曲藝音樂集成: 上海卷 (Collection of the music of Chinese performance arts: Shanghai volume; Beijing: Zhongguo ISBN zhongxin, 1994) 2: 1286–87. 6. Chenhang once belonged to Shanghai county, but now belongs to Minhang 閔 行 district, while Zhoupu belonged to Nanhui county, which was abolished in 2009. 7. See Chen Quanming 陳全明, “Pudong Chenhang ‘xuanjuan’ zhi xingcheng yu xiankuang” 浦東陳行“宣卷”之形成與現況 (The formation and current condition of “telling scrolls” in Chen-hang and Pudong), Shanghai wenhua shi zhi tongxun 1992.19: 58–59. 8. Zhongguo quyi zhi: Shanghai juan 中國曲藝志:上海卷 (A record of Chinese performing arts: Shanghai volume; Beijing: Zhongguo ISBN zhongxin, 2007), p. 93. On the development of scroll recitation in Suzhou, see Sang Yuxi 桑毓喜, “Suzhou xuanjuan kaolue” 蘇州宣卷考略 (A short study of Suzhou scroll recitation), Yishu baijia 藝術百家 (Various traditions of the arts) 1992.3: 122 –25. 9. See Chen Quanming, “Pudong Chenhang ‘xuanjuan,’” pp. 59–60. 10. For the notations of some melodies, recorded in the 1960s and 1990s, see Zhongguo quyi yinyue jicheng: Shanghai juan, 2: 1288–97, 1301–1306. 11. Chen Quanming, “Pudong Chenhang ‘xuanjuan,’” pp. 60–61. 12. Zhoupu wenhua zhi 周浦文化志 (The gazetteer of Zhoupu culture; Hong Kong: Shijie datong wenhua yishu, 2014), p. 56, provides information about only five generations, starting with Zhang Donglin and omitting Zhang Houtang. 13. Chen Quanming, “Pudong Chenhang ‘xuanjuan,’” p. 61. 14. Jiebang village is under the jurisdiction of Zhoupu district; it was originally Yaodun 姚墩 village of Waxie 瓦屑 town. 15. See Bai Ruosi 白若思 (Rostislav Berezkin), “You 1900–1937 nian jian ‘Huaming baojuan’ de kanke kan Zhongguo ershi shiji chu chuban wenhua yu minjian xinyang ji suwenxue zhi guanxi” 由1900–1937 年間《花名寶卷》的刊刻看中國二十世紀初出版文化與民間信仰及俗文學之關係 (Looking at the relationship between early twentieth century print culture, folk beliefs, and popular literature through the printing of Huaming baojuan from 1900–1937), in Paul Katz and Vincent Goossaert, eds., Gaibian Zhongguo zongjiao de wushi nian, 1898–1948 改變中國宗教的五十年, 1898–1948 (Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 2015), pp. 169–92. 16. See Chen Quanming, “Pudong Chenhang ‘xuanjuan,’” p. 59. 17. Needless to say, the “gold award” at this contest...