Xiangsheng and the Emergence of Guo Degang in Contemporary China

This book explores xiangsheng, one of the most popular folk art performance genres in China, its enlistment by official propaganda machine after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its revival in popularity under Guo Degang and his Deyun Club. Just as the 1950's saw the shift of xiangsheng 's social function from entertainment to the political tool of ‘serving the party’, Guo Degang has completed the paradigm shift by turning its focus back to ‘serving the people’ as a means of entertainment and social criticism. This volume examines how Guo has resurrected the essence of xiangsheng, successfully commercialised it in a market economy, and simultaneously deconstructed the official discourse through grassroots means.

Shenshen Cai is a senior lecturer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, teaching Chinese and Chinese culture related courses. She completed her PhD in contemporary Chinese culture studies with the School of Humanities at Griffith University and has a broad research interest in contemporary Chinese literature, film, theatre and folklore studies. Shenshen is the sole author of State Propaganda in China's Entertainment Industry (2016), Television Drama in Contemporary China: Political, Social and Cultural Phenomena (2016) and Contemporary Chinese Films and Celebrity Directors (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), and editor of Female Celebrities in Contemporary Chinese Society (Palgrave Macmillan 2019).

Emily Dunn is a Sessional Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She is the author of Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China (Brill 2015). Her research articles have also appeared in the journals Modern China and East Asian History, among others. Emily received her PhD from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Her research interests include celebrity and religion in contemporary China.