Cang's Ramblings

Chapter 4645. Comments on Tang Sifang
First, let me share a moving song with my young friends:

"Crosstalk, sketches, magic, acrobatics, storytelling, jokes, rap art
East, West, South, North and Center

Please look

Quyuan Zatan
"Quyuan Zatan"

Crosstalk, in that era, was actually the C position first, so scary~
The work I would like to introduce today is "Crosstalk Master", written by Tang Sifang.

This book won the first prize in the first "Online Original Literature Realism Essay Contest".

[Chapter 10: Poison Testing]

Chapter One: Apprenticeship in Tianjin. The protagonist, He Xiangdong, diligently practices the "Eight Screens" jingle under the tutelage of his master, Fang Wenqi. While his technique is sophisticated, he inevitably slacks off, as he's only eight or nine years old. The deep bond between master and apprentice is evident in their practice and banter.

Chapter 2, Ni'er. The protagonist diligently practices the advanced jingle piece "The Reckless Man," delivering a powerful performance with expressive voice and fluid movements, earning the applause of his master. Afterward, amidst the master's laughter and scolding, the protagonist runs to find his new friend, Ni'er, who turns out to be a young girl also learning the traditional art of Jingyun Drum.

Chapter 3, "The Lyrics of Taiping," details the development and evolution of the lyrics of Taiping in crosstalk. To make Ni'er laugh, the protagonist sings a passage from "Wen Wang Gua." While the lyrics are simple, the meaning is clear. He then adds a few lines, finally convincing Ni'er that the storm is over and the sky is clear.

Chapter 4, Childhood Fun. The protagonist and Nier played around for a while before running off. He tricked Nier's master into going to his own master, saying he'd be beaten if he didn't leave. Arriving on the street, it was lunchtime, and the smell of state-owned food was so delicious that I had to resort to a tongue twister to appease my cravings.
Chapter 5: Let Me Give It a Try. The old lady of the Shi family was celebrating her birthday, and the artist they had invited couldn't come due to diarrhea. The protagonist, craving for a spot, wandered over to the Shi family. Out of a sense of honor (or perhaps more of a craving), the protagonist volunteered and demonstrated his newly learned Jingyun drumming skills. The host then agreed to let the protagonist perform crosstalk on stage.

Chapter 6: Prelude. The Shi family prepared a gown, table, fan, handkerchief, and a wake-up stick for the protagonist, and detailed descriptions of these props were provided, including notes on the saluting gestures, such as "sitting on top" and "right hand on bottom." The prelude before the protagonist's performance was also vivid and interesting.

Chapter 7, a scene from an impromptu comedy routine. The protagonist is a bit confused after taking the stage to deliver his opening line. Having never properly practiced stand-up comedy, he can only improvise. He then pokes fun at his master (in the industry, the only jokes are about the straight man), and he unexpectedly ends up making fun of him for the entire chapter. The story flows incredibly smoothly, and the audience is rolling in laughter.
Chapter 8, "Quan Ren Fang." The protagonist sang a passionate piece of "Quan Ren Fang" (also known as "Zhuang Gong Da Ma"), advising people to be kind and upright, which perfectly matched the scene of the old lady of the Shi family's birthday. The audience loved it, and the protagonist also enjoyed it during the banquet.
Chapter 9: Kneel. The protagonist finished his performance, ate and drank well, and even brought some rare treats to Ni'er and the others. But when he returned home, he was scolded by his master, had his food thrown away, and was forced to kneel. It seems his strict master was very angry about his careless performance!
Chapter 10: Amateur Crosstalk. The protagonist is punished and feels aggrieved. The next day, Nier brings her master to plead for mercy, and then slowly explains the rules of crosstalk: only after becoming a master can one be qualified to perform for sale.

"Crosstalk is not about telling jokes" is a very insightful statement.

【Brief Comment】

This is a typical art novel that introduces the changes in the crosstalk industry and the ups and downs of folk artists. Reading it really gives you a feeling of the history of the development of the times.

This book is very professional and most people cannot write it. I deeply doubt whether the author is engaged in this line of work.

Moreover, I doubt that most people will be able to understand it, because the book contains a lot of professional terms, which may be a bit profound and outdated for today's young readers.

However, the language style of this book is not rigid at all, on the contrary it is very interesting.

Just like crosstalk itself, each chapter has some jokes, and each one is well-written, which makes people marvel at the author's thoughts and talent.

This book has strong cultural and educational significance. It not only promotes and popularizes the crosstalk industry, but also promotes and popularizes traditional art and even traditional culture.

This is an excellent book that combines traditional literature with online literature. It is also the crystallization of wisdom from the collision of traditional culture and popular elements!
In addition, the author also wrote "Magic Luo" and "Peking Storyteller", which tell stories in the fields of magic and storytelling respectively.

"Magic Luo" even won the second prize in the third realism online literature essay competition.

【In summary】

The author focuses on real-life folk artists, unearthing their unknown legendary stories and giving them new artistic life, attempting to pass on each different art with lofty intentions.

There are not many online writers who have this kind of artistic awareness and sense of responsibility!

Friends passing by, please reach out your little hand and give a like and forward it!
Let's talk about folk art and crafts that you know but are unknown to others.
[Cang's Ramblings] After reading the author's final remarks for his second book, "Magic Luo", I was filled with emotion.

Because of the poor performance, the author finished the work early.

I thought the third book, "Peking Storyteller", would perform better, but it turned out not to be.

The author started the book from a very high point.

The first two books won awards in the reality-based writing competition, and the writer's level was raised to level 5 early on.

Unfortunately, the performance of the three books is worse than the previous one.

In fact, the quality and subject matter of the book are quite good.

It's a pity that the author's mentality collapsed, and it collapsed quite badly.

Once the mentality collapses, the updates will also collapse, and the vicious cycle that results in worse and worse grades.

This is a vicious cycle that is really difficult to break.

Many excellent authors, including great and platinum writers, also have many examples in this regard.

When starting a new book, every author has high hopes for it, especially those whose previous works are particularly excellent.

If new book collections and subscriptions do not meet your expectations, your enthusiasm for writing will be greatly affected.

After the enthusiasm fades, all that remains is to struggle to survive.

A principled person will insist on finishing a book, giving an explanation to himself and his readers.

Authors who care too much about external comments often find it difficult to complete their work well.

Online literature is such a cruel world.

It is never the case that a new book will continue to sell well just because the previous book was very popular.

Although there are exceptions, they are extremely rare individuals.

Judging from the data alone, the performance of several great players and platinum players who were launched on March 1st has not reached the same level as their peak.

Still the old saying:

Writing is not easy, so cherish every moment.

By the way, although this short story of mine has only 150 collections, the number of people who subscribed to it actually exceeded the number of people who subscribed to it when "Mirror Giant" was updated.

I'm so lucky~
(End of this chapter)