On the morning of December 13th, the book launch and folk art symposium titled Research on Chinese Storytelling Venues from the Late Qing Dynasty to the Present (referred to as the book) were held at SHNU, focusing on the historical evolution and contemporary transformation of "storytelling venues."
At the meeting, Zhou Shengnan, an associate professor at the SHNU School of Film and Television Media and the author of the book, introduced the core content and main viewpoints of the book. Based on selected storytelling venues in representative cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Shanghai, Sichuan-Chongqing, and Guangzhou, the book reveals the conditions for the formation of repertoire and genres, as well as the operational patterns and competitive mechanisms of storytelling performances. The author emphasizes that within the multifaceted tension of "intangible cultural heritage preservation, market competition and public cultural services," the effective inheritance and innovation of folk arts require a return to the "artistic soil" of storytelling venues. Through the holistic reconstruction of performance spaces, operational models, and audience-performance relationships, the social ecosystem necessary for the natural growth and continuous renewal of folk arts can be restored.
