Narrative Song: Southern Traditions—Suzhou Tanci

Although the earliest date of Suzhou tanci is not known exactly, there is general agreement that it was popular by the mid-sixteenth century, during the Ming dynasty. In 1547, in his travel book Xihu yuolanzhiyu, Dian Rucheng described tanci performances that he had observed (Tan and Tan 1985:435–437). In 1651, at the end of her tanci story Tianyuha, Dao Chenwai remarked on the large number of contemporary tanci texts in existence (Dao 1984). The Qing dynasty (1644–1911)...