Five kids perform clapper talk at the final of the 4th Shanghai Youth Quyi Competition in Jiading district of Shanghai on Aug 30. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn] |
The final of the 4th Shanghai Youth Quyi Competition took place in Jiading district of Shanghai on Aug 30.
Quyi is a traditional Chinese art form covering a variety of categories such as ballad singing, storytelling, comic dialogues and Chinese cross talk.
A total of 20 teams competed in the final competition and gave an abundance of excellent performances including clapper talk, monodrama, traditional instrument playing, luogushu (Shanghai-style storytelling), and others.
The age of the contestants varied widely, with the youngest being only four years old.
A panel of prestigious judges from the Shanghai Quyi Artist Association, the Shanghai Farce Troupe, and the Shanghai Pingtan Troupe were impressed by the young performers and considered their work novel and unique.
The youths' excellent skills resulted from the greater attention society and schools have been paying to traditional Chinese culture. Shanghai is one of the centers to attach greater importance to dialect protection, which has laid a good foundation for quyi education among the young.