Pingtan And Modern Suzhou Social Life

Pingtan is a type of storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect with a special feature typical of the regions south of Yangtze River. Suzhou Pingtan is closely related to the social life of Suzhou in modern time. The birth of Suzhou Pingtan is the result of social transformation of Suzhou which including following factors: First, during Ming and Qing dynasties, the wind of narcissism was formed. Second, there was comparatively fixed consumer groups. The last is the origin of Suzhou Pingtan.Its prosperity is also the result of social transformation of Suzhou and there are two prosperous performances: One was more shuchangs,texts and actors. The other was more chances of performances. There were three reasons for the prosperity. The first reason was that the scale of consumer groups was expanded. Second, residential culture was started. Third, it was supported and protected by the government.As an indispensable part in everyday life, Suzhou Pingtan's main functions exist in decorating social life. And it had the positive meaning in educating people in the process of recreation. It spread the knowledge of culture, morality, education and the latest information. Suzhou Pingtan's activity center moving from Suzhou to Shanghai in macroscopic aspect and the microscopic shifts of play environments,texts and actors reflected the social changes in Suzhou..Above all, from the horizontal aspect of history, Pingtan demonstrates the pictures of Suzhou people's social life. From the vertical aspect of history, its life trace actively reflects the transforming of modern social life of Suzhou people. It can be said that Pingtan is a living fossil of that kind of lifestyle which is one important reason why it can become non-material heritages. Recalling the relationship between Pingtan and modern Suzhou social life has some certain positive influence in protecting and promoting Pingtan, and also in showing its active effects in the daily life.