“非遗”档案：宁波莲花

陈金华：草根艺术家的莲花落情缘Chen Jinhua: My Indissoluble Bond with Lotus Flower Art

陈金华，男，浙江宁波人，宁波地区著名莲花落表演艺术家，现为浙江省曲艺家协会理事，慈溪市曲艺家协会主席。19岁开始师承国家一级演员、著名莲花落表演艺术家倪齐全。1987年获得浙江省“双鱼杯”莲花落大奖赛表演一等奖，2009年被浙江省委宣传部确定为首批浙江省优秀民间文艺人才。

Mr. Chen Jinhua, a famous Lianhua Lao artist, is currently the director of the Chinese Quyi Artists Association (CQAA) and the chairman of the Cixi Quyi Artists Association. At the age of nineteen, Mr. Chen became the disciple of China's first-class actor, famous Lianhua Lao artist Ni Qiquan. In 1987, Mr. Chen won the first prize in the Lianhua Lao Performance Competition at the Pisces Cup. In 2009, Mr. Chen was placed among the first list of Outstanding Folk Literature and Art Talents in Zhejiang Province.

草根艺术家的莲花落情缘

口述：陈金华 整理：王薇

莲花落的前世今生

莲花落曲艺历史相当悠久，最早的文字记载出现在宋元时期，当时的莲花落是乞丐卖艺所演唱的。绍兴莲花落据说产生在清光绪年间。1906年，我们的祖师爷——下三府的张姓艺人到浙江绍兴卖唱，并收徒定居于绍兴。大概因为他的指甲很长，人们都叫他“长手指甲”。

再后来，他收了两个徒弟——上虞松厦沈阿发和绍兴坡塘唐茂盛，然后才有了登台表演。早期表演莲花落没有乐队，而是一个人走街卖唱，形式很简单——一个人就可以撑起整场表演。后来出现了三个人同时登台的形式，一个人清唱，两个人伴唱。到了20世纪五六十年代，莲花落表演演变为一个人演唱，一个人拉四胡，还有一个敲三敲板。莲花落的唱词是演唱者现场编造的，没有固定内容，演唱也没有固定的基调。现在流传下来的经典曲目有《救爹》、《何文秀》、《珍珠塔》、《闹稽山》等。

宁波地区莲花落的起源就在绍兴，它跟我们宁波地区的宁波走书类型差不多。不同的是绍兴莲花落用的是绍兴方言，而我们宁波走书用的是宁波话。另外，绍兴莲花落节奏比较明快，相比之下宁波走书比较温和。

最近这些年，莲花落无论在表演、唱腔、还是音乐上，都有很大的发展，在伴奏上有的时候还会用琵琶、扬琴、二胡、笛子等乐器。并且根据剧情需要，穿插演唱绍剧、越剧及部分民歌小调，还增加表演部分。可以说，莲花落在不断地丰富，朝着更有利于传承的方向发展。

结缘莲花落

我从小就喜欢文艺，以前在中学里就喜欢表演节目。每次我讲相声、表演的时候，同学们的反响很好，他们都很喜欢看我表演。最初接触到莲花落呢，是在20世纪80年代初。当时我高中毕业，刚好绍兴曲艺团到我们村里表演，一演就是好多天。他们表演的就是绍兴莲花落——“一人一台大戏，唱文唱武自己。”我一下就被这种独特的表演形式吸引了，当晚曲艺团就住在我们村里，我心想：这么好的机会，我一定要抓住！

我的老师是国家一级演员倪齐全老师，恰巧，他就在表演的队伍里。于是演出后，我就想向他拜师学习莲花落，他当场让我试唱，觉得我嗓音条件还不错，就答应教我。我一有空就去绍兴请教我的师傅。泗门到绍兴相隔百里，当时交通很不方便，又没钱买车票，我只能借了辆永久牌自行车，骑了十多个小时才到我师傅家。天气好还可以，要是遇到刮风下雨，我就被淋成落汤鸡。我的师傅看我学习那么刻苦，开始系统地讲解莲花落的表演要诀，并把压箱底的一些长篇本子传授给了我。为了矫正我的口音，我四处借钱，凑了240元“巨资”，买了一台春蕾牌录音机，把师傅的表演录下来，回去以后反复听、反复琢磨，简直到了痴迷的地步。

努力总会出成绩的。学成之后，我开始在宁波的农村地区表演，没想到反响特别好！这给了我很大的信心，并且激励我在唱莲花落的道路上越走越远。几经努力，我迎来了事业的第一个高峰。2008年，我在慈溪市人民大会堂举办了“陈金华曲艺专场演唱会”，台下人山人海，观众非常热情。回想起之前坎坷的学艺经历，我心中感慨万分。

草根的努力

莲花落曲目大多是演唱者自己编的，演之前心里大概有一个框架，然后通过临场发挥，即兴表演。传统的曲目一代代传下来是有剧本的，但更多的是通过老师口述教学。另外我们经常看别人演出，看着看着也就耳濡目染地学会了，剧本都记在脑子里了。我自己先后创作、改编的各类曲艺节目有60多个，其中一些参演节目在全国、省、市级的曲艺会演中获奖。

过去的莲花落故事主要取材于社会生活，反映了传统文化与故事。比方说上京赶考、男女情爱，以及邻里之间、家长里短的社会百态。而现在的莲花落与过去的有些区别——政府和文艺工作者开始重视莲花落的作用，因为莲花落可以有效地帮助开展党的中心工作。比方说近段时间的“五水共治”，政府一提出这个概念，我们就马上编排以“五水共治”为主题的节目，通过这样的形式进行宣传，效果立竿见影，老百姓也更加容易接受。我想这就是莲花落在现今社会最大的价值吧。

就这一点，我不断在做自己力所能及的努力。比方说上个月（2015年6月）30号，我和电视台的搭档共同创作了一部新的剧目——《怪病》，这部新剧目的主题是医患关系。这是现在社会上的热门话题。我们希望通过莲花落这个平台，为观众讲述病人眼中的医生和医生眼中的病人，呼吁医患双方能给彼此更多包容，共同构建和谐社会。

另外，我们上次去了第四实验小学，向小朋友们介绍莲花落，反响很好。原本一节课是40分钟的，但是我们足足讲了一个多小时，小朋友们还意犹未尽。我觉得这是个很好的宣传方式，而且我们必须坚持下去，经常性地开展“传统曲艺进校园”的活动，而不能流于形式。我们慈溪电视台的开机屏也提供了免费点播服务，开机以后选择“文艺”这一块，就能免费看莲花落表演。点击率很高，像文化礼堂啊、养老院啊，经常有人会点播。

传承与发展

现在靠唱莲花落养家糊口的人已经屈指可数了。老中青三代人，老年的基本上都不唱了，就带带学生；而比较活跃的中年表演者目前也只有十几个人了；想学莲花落的人也不多，这一点，我也很迷茫……大多数人会选择学音乐啊、学舞蹈啊、唱歌啊，但是几乎没有人会学曲艺。可能是因为现在生活节奏快，喜欢莲花落这种传统曲艺的人很少了，市场不大。而且现在生活条件好了，几乎没有为了维持生计而学习莲花落的人了。假如有想学的，肯定是出于自身对莲花落的热爱。但是父母会担心啊，担心孩子学习莲花落以后是否能生存，觉得这不是一个谋生的好路子、赚不到钱。

而且，我国学习曲艺的体制也存在问题。像我国只有中国北方曲艺学校一个专门的曲艺学校，市场上也几乎见不到曲艺类的培训班，这对曲艺在青少年人群里发展、培养曲艺爱好者和曲艺表演者是非常不利的。政府部门——尤其是文化部和教育部——可以设点开展一些曲艺类的培训班，重点在青少年里面推广，让孩子们印象中有这么一个传统曲艺的概念。

我现在看到的，是整个社会没有形成一个利于戏曲发展的风尚。反而外国人对我们的戏曲啊、还有其他一些传统文化感兴趣，我们自己却不够重视，这一点很奇怪。如果不抢救保护、不培养新人，那么莲花落这种传统曲艺只能自生自灭，最后真的变成一种“非物质文化遗产”了。那将相当可惜。

其实宁波地区的莲花落是从绍兴起源的，而绍兴莲花落已经成功申报了国家级非物质文化遗产，绍兴市政府的保护工作也做得很好，每周都有莲花落演出——老百姓看戏，政府买单。但是莲花落要想在宁波地区发展起来比较难。因为虽然宁波市政府非常重视文化这一块，但是宁波本身有宁波走书、四明南词、宁波评话等地方曲种，政府关注、扶持的重点也在这些地方性曲艺上。而莲花落只有我们几个民间表演者在发展，力量太小了，可以说不成气候，没有很大的影响力。我也曾经想过关于申报宁波地区莲花落的非物质文化遗产，但是手续相当繁杂，还需要提供很多资料，后来不了了之了。

不管宁波地区莲花落的传承形势怎么样，像我们这一代人，肯定要坚持下去的。我们是唱莲花落唱出名的，现在也可以说是名利双收了，当然不能放弃莲花落，不应该让这么好的艺术变成“遗产”！

My Indissoluble Bond with Lotus Flower Art

Narrator: Chen Jinhua Compiled by: Wang Wei

The Destiny of Lotus Flower Art

Lianhua Lao has quite a long history. It was first documented in writing during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. At that time, Lianhua Lao was only a tool for beggars to beg for a living. Shaoxing Lianhua Lao is said to have originated in the early Qing Dynasty.In 1906, our ancestor Mr. Zhang, an artist from Xiasan Fu, moved to Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province and settled there. He was called “long fingernails” because of his extremely long fingernails. Later, he took two apprentices, one with Shen Afa from Songxia, Shangyu and the other with Tang Maosheng from Potang, Shaoxing. This was the first time that Lianhua Lao had ever appeared on stage. In the early years, instead of performing in a group, there was only a person performing like a street musician. This traditional art form was so simple that one actor can finish the whole show alone. Later the simple form evolved into a more complex one—a group of three folk artists worked together to perform Lianhua Lao with one artist as the singer and the other two as the backup singers. In the 1950s and 1960s, the form changed again into a new one—one man singing, one man playing the Sihu and another one beating the triple-knocking board. The lyrics of Lianhua Lao are improvised by artists, and there are no fixed rhythms, either. Some of the classic tracks include Saving Father,He Wenxiu,Pearl Pagoda,and Nao Jishan.

Ningbo Lianhua Lao, adapted from that of Shaoxing, is quite similar to Ningbo Zoushu (story-telling while walking). One of the differences between Shaoxing Lianhua and Ningbo Lianhua lies in the use of local dialects. In addition, the rhythm of Shaoxing Lianhua Lao is more vivid compared to the slow beats of Ningbo Zoushu.

Today, Lianhua Lao has developed a lot in performance, voice and music. For example, performers are sometimes accompanied with a pipa, erhu, flute, dulcimer and other traditional Chinese musical instruments. According to the plot, Lianhua Lao is sometimes interspersed with singing Shaoxing Opera and folk songs and with more performance. We can say Lianhua Lao is constantly enriched, going in the right direction that is conducive to the further development and preservation of intangible cultural heritages.

My Bond with Lotus Flower Art

I have been interested in the arts since I was young. When I was in high school, I enjoyed acting. My comedy routines and other shows received positive responses from my classmates. They all liked them very much. It was in the early 1980s that I got to know Lianhua Lao for the first time after I graduated from high school. At that time, there was a Shaoxing troupe performing in the village where I lived. The form of Lianhua Lao they performed reflected the main theme of this specific folk art—when performing Lianhua Lao, each artist has a stage to themselves where they are able to perform in both mild and bold ways. Suddenly, I fell in love with this special art form.Therefore, when I heard that the troupe would perform for several more days in the village, I told myself that I must seize this precious opportunity.

My teacher, Ni Qiquan, a Chinese first-class actor, was also in that troupe. So I asked him if he would allow me to become his apprentice. He tested my vocal condition on the spot and promised to teach me. Since then, I would go to Shaoxing in my spare time to meet my master Mr. Ni and seek advice from him. With no sufficient money to afford the bus fare, I then borrowed a bicycle, rode about ten hours before I could get Shaoxing from Simen. It was not a big deal if the weather was fine, but when it wasn't, I would be caught in the rain like a drowned rat. I studied so hard that my teacher was impressed, and he began to systematically explain the tips of singing Lianhua Lao and to impart the precious long scripts to me. In order to refine my accent, I borrowed money from everywhere I could and bought a “Spring Thunder” voice recorder for 240 yuan. With the recorder, I was finally able to record my teacher's performance, to which I listened over and over again at home. At that time, I would repeatedly listen to the recordings and reflect on my teacher's voice and techniques. I would say I was pretty crazy about Lianhua Lao.

Efforts will eventually pay off. When I first began to perform Lianhua Lao in rural areas in Ningbo, it turned out to be a great success, which gave me a lot of confidence. It inspired me to go further in the field of Lianhua Lao. Through my efforts, I reached the first peak of my career. In 2008, I held the “Chen Jinhua's Special Vocal Concert” in the Great Hall of the People in Cixi. That night, there were huge crowds in an enthusiastic audience sitting there watching my performance. At that moment, I recalled my rough experience of learning Lianhua Lao, and all sorts of feelings welled up in my mind.

The Rise of a Grassroots Artist

Lianhua Lao is mostly composed by the artists themselves. Before acting, they will have a general plot in their minds, and then they will improvise while acting out the plot. From one generation to the next, there do exist some written scripts while in most cases the traditional Lianhua songs are orally taught by the masters. We also keep watching others' shows and gradually we can memorize the scripts. I have created or adapted more than sixty pieces of Lianhua Lao, some of which were awarded prizes in municipal, provincial and national competitions.

In the past, the stories of Lianhua Lao mainly originated from our daily lives, which in the meantime reflect the traditional culture and stories like taking national examinations in ancient Beijing, love stories, family gossip or some social news. And now, things are becoming different. The government and our literary and art workers have realized the importance of Lianhua Lao because arts can effectively implant party policies in the masses. For example, as soon as the policy “five water purifying goals”came out, we immediately arranged a piece of Lianhua Lao featuring this theme. This approach to propaganda is very effective, for it is easier for the folks to understand and accept such policies. I think this might be the greatest value of Lianhua Lao in our contemporary society.

In this respect, I have done everything I could to create new scripts that can hopefully both depict reality and promote this traditional art form. For example, on June 30th, 2015, my partner from the television station and I co-created a new Lianhua plot named Strange Disease whose theme is the worsening relationship between doctors and patients, a hot topic in today's China. Through Lianhua Lao, we hope to promote better understanding between doctors and patients and call for both of the two parties to give more tolerance to each other and to build a harmonious society.

In addition, we also went to the Fourth Experimental Primary School and introduced Lianhua Lao to the children. The response was so good that a forty-minute-long lecture was extended to more than an hour, and the children were even longing for more. I think that this is a good way to promote Lianhua Lao, and that instead of making it a mere formality, we should stick to this approach by regularly carrying out such activities as “bringing traditional folk arts onto campus.” In this regard, Cixi Television Station also provides folk shows on people's digital television. After switching on the television, all you have to do is to select “literature and art,” and then you can choose Lianhua Lao and enjoy it for free. As far as I know, the click rate is very high. Often there are huge demands from culture halls and nursing homes.

Inheritance and Development

Nowadays, there are only few artists who can perform Lianhua Lao. Old people who used to make a living by performing Lianhua Lao stopped performing and began to teach students. And there are only a dozen middle-aged performers who are still active at present. I'm pretty confused about the condition that the number of people who are interested in Lianhua Lao is on the decrease. Instead, nowadays people seem to prefer to learn dancing and singing rather than traditional Chinese arts. Probably due to the fast pace of life, only a few people are still interested in learning this traditional folk art. Also, with the development of our living conditions, almost nobody would ever perform Lianhua Lao for a living. Even if someone has interest in it, their parents might be concerned about whether it is a promising career for their kids.

Furthermore, problems do exist in our current system. There's only one professional quyi school(i.e.,The Northern China Folk Art School)that systematically teaches professional folk art in China. Except for that, it is almost impossible for us to locate a folk training course in the market. It poses a disadvantage both to the development of Lianhua Lao and to the young people who want to learn it. I thus suggest that the government, especially the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, try to establish some training courses in this field as a way to raise children's awareness of the existence of such traditional folk arts as Lianhua Lao.

As I observe, there is little if any trend in our society that benefits the development of Chinese folk arts including Lianhua Lao. I find it ironic that a lot of foreigners are more interested in traditional Chinese culture than us Chinese. If we fail to take any measures to preserve Lianhua Lao or to cultivate more successors, it will inevitably go the course to extinction. What a pity it would be if that happened.

In fact, Lianhua Lao in Ningbo region originates from Shaoxing. Shaoxing Lianhua Lao has been listed in China's first intangible cultural heritage catalogue. The Shaoxing government has also taken a series of effective measures to protect its Lianhua Lao. For example, every week there is a Lianhua Lao show that is organized by the Shaoxing government and is free of charge. But unfortunately, this is not the case in Ningbo. Even if our government pays due attention to traditional culture, they only focus on such local folk arts as Ningbo Zoushu (story-telling while walking), Siming Nanci and Ningbo Pinghua (story-telling in Ningbo dialect). There are only a few folk artists trying to save Lianhua Lao, which honestly has little impact. I had thought of nominating Lianhua Lao as an Intangible Cultural Heritage to the Ningbo government. However, since the nomination process is rather complicated, and I was at that time not able to provide documents as required, I had to let it go.

No matter how serious the current situation in Ningbo is, our generation has to insist on Lianhua Lao because we gained our fame and fortune from it. We won't stop trying because it will be a shame if fine arts like this go extinct.

向最可爱的人致敬

文：王薇 指导教师：陈雨枝

上天赐予的礼物

刚走进慈溪电视台“金黄道地”节目的办公室，就看见陈金华老师已经在如约等候我们了。虽然接到采访任务之前我并不认识他，但在准备期间我了解到他是一个非常和善的人。不用多说，眼前这位天生一脸笑意的老师肯定就是我们本次采访的对象——陈金华老师。

他高高的个子、中等身材，乍一看似乎没有什么特别之处。但仔细一瞧他的脸——嘿！这不就是一张为喜剧而生的脸吗？锃亮的脑门、弯弯的眼睛、大大的鼻子、短短的下巴……他的五官确实不能算好看，但凑在一起显得那么和谐。只要他咧开嘴一笑，还没开腔呢，观众就被他逗乐了。

可以说，上天赐予了他一份珍贵的礼物——一副为戏剧表演而打造的面孔。如果说他的外貌特征是助他前进的风，那么他对莲花落的执着与坚守则是轮船远航时的马达。即使一路上不能一直顺风顺水，但只要马达还在坚持不懈地转动，就不怕到不了胜利的彼岸！

现任慈溪市戏剧曲艺家协会主席的陈老师已经和莲花落打了大半辈子交道。但当他回忆起自己年轻时学习莲花落的场景时，他的双眼仍闪烁着光芒。陈老师动情地说：“苦啊！当时条件差，学起来很苦。从我家泗门到绍兴我的师傅家相隔百里，当时交通很不方便，又没钱买车票，我只能借了辆永久牌自行车，骑了十多个小时才到我师傅家。天气好还可以，要是遇到刮风下雨，我就被淋成落汤鸡。为了矫正我的口音，我四处借钱，凑了240元‘巨资’，买了一台春蕾牌录音机，把师傅的表演录下来，回去以后反复听、反复琢磨，简直到了痴迷的地步。这样的例子还有很多，辛苦是肯定的，但是自己感兴趣，再苦也是开心的。”说着，他又露出了招牌笑容，惹得我们都笑了。陈老师对莲花落热爱是发自内心的。

不容乐观的现状

当我们问到宁波地区莲花落的传承与发展问题时，陈老师听罢面露难色。他说道：“现在靠唱莲花落养家糊口的人已经屈指可数了。老年曲艺家基本上都不唱了，就带带学生；而比较活跃的中年表演者目前也只有十几个人了；想学莲花落的人也不多，这一点，我也很迷茫……整个社会没有形成一个利于戏曲发展的风尚。反而外国人对我们的戏曲啊、还有其他一些传统文化感兴趣，我们自己却不够重视，这一点很奇怪。如果不抢救保护、不培养新人，那么莲花落这种传统曲艺只能自生自灭，最后真的变成一种‘非物质文化遗产’了。那将相当可惜。”

相比从前，莲花落的市场大大萎缩，听莲花落的人尚且不多，更何况唱的人！在本次采访前的准备期间，我咨询了宁波民乐剧场的郁经理。她告诉我，现在民乐剧场没有专门演出莲花落的团队，整个宁波地区也很少有唱莲花落的人。虽然宁波市政府非常重视文化这一块，但是宁波本身有宁波走书、四明南词、宁波评话等地方曲种，政府关注、扶持的重点也在这些地方性曲艺上。对此，陈老师表示自己也很无奈。目前，莲花落只有陈老师和另外几个民间表演者在发展，力量太小了，可以说不成气候，没有很大的影响力。这时，采访陷入了深深的沉默。

感谢你，最可爱的人

但是不久，陈老师打破了僵局。他说不管宁波地区莲花落的传承形势怎么样，像他们这一代人，肯定要坚持下去的。他们是唱莲花落唱出名的，现在也可以说是名利双收了，当然不能放弃莲花落，不应该让这么好的艺术变成“遗产”！“如果有人对莲花落感兴趣、想学的，我可以免费教他（她）!”

我被他的话打动了。

人至中年，该有的头衔、荣誉都有了，但他并没有被名利带来的虚荣冲昏头脑。相反，他时刻记得自己作为一项非物质文化遗产传承者的责任。

正是因为他不计较个人得失、对莲花落艺术孜孜不倦的追求，莲花落这一曲种才得以在宁波地区生根发芽。

正是因为一个、两个、几十个、几百个像陈老师一样的人为保护“非遗”做出的不懈努力，我们的传统文化才不会被遗忘，我们才有机会把濒临失传的文化精髓传递给后代、传播到世界的每个角落！

陈金华老师是中国所有为“非遗”保护事业艰苦奋斗的人们的缩影。正是因为这些可爱的人依旧在坚持，中国非物质文化遗产的前景是乐观而光明的！

My Salute to Those Lovely People

By Wang Wei Supervised by Chen Yuzhi

Gift from God

When I had just entered the office of the Golden Yard Program at the Cixi television station, I immediately found that Mr. Chen Jinhua had been waiting for us as scheduled. Although I had no idea who he was before we met, I've heard that he is a very kind person. Needless to say, this gentleman in front of us must be our interviewee—Mr. Chen Jinhua.

He is tall and of average build and seems to be nothing special at first glance. But after having a closer look at his face—I would say this face is perfectly tailored for comedy.

A shiny forehead, curved eyes, a big nose, and a short chin… His facial features might not be good-looking in some sense. Yet, I bet the audience would burst into laughter when Mr. Chen grins even without uttering any word.

You might say that he received a precious gift from god—a face born to perform quyi.If his appearance is the wind that directed him along the way,then his insistence and perseverance for Lianhua Lao is the engine on this course. Although the “weather conditions” can hardly be favourable all the time, as long as the engine still works, one will surely reach the destination successfully.

As the chairman of the Cixi Quyi Artists Association, Mr. Chen has been in the field of Lianhua Lao all his life. But when recalling his experience of learning Lianhua Lao in his youth, there are still sparkles in his eyes. Mr. Chen recollected sentimentally:“It was a really bitter experience! With no sufficient money to afford the bus fare, I then borrowed a bicycle, rode about ten hours before I could get to Shaoxing from Simen. It was not a big deal if the weather was fine, but when it wasn't, I would be caught in the rain like a drowned rat. In order to refine my accent, I borrowed money from everywhere I could and bought a ‘Spring Thunder' voice recorder with 240 yuan. With the recorder, I was finally able to record my teacher's performance, to which I listened over and over again at home. At that time, I would repeatedly listen to the recordings and reflect on my teacher's voice and techniques. I would say I was pretty crazy about Lianhua Lao. Examples of this sort might be listed in the hundreds. You might wonder why I went through all these troubles to learn Lianhua Lao. That is because I'm really fond of Lianhua Lao, and I firmly believe that happiness follows any misery.” After recalling his learning experiences, Mr. Chen put on his trademark smile from which I could see that his affection for Lianhua Lao is from the bottom of his heart.

Current Situation of Lotus Flower Art

Then when asked about the problems in terms of inheriting and developing Lianhua Lao, Mr. Chen showed signs of puzzlement. He said, “Nowadays, there are only a few artists who can perform Lianhua Lao. Old people who used to make a living by performing Lianhua Lao stopped performing and began to teach students. And there are only a dozen middle-aged artists who are still active at present. I'm pretty confused about the condition that the number of people who are interested in Lianhua Lao is on the decrease. As I observe, there is little if any trend in our society that benefits the development of Chinese folk arts including Lianhua Lao. I find it ironic that a lot of foreigners are more interested in traditional Chinese culture than us Chinese. If we fail to take any measures to preserve Lianhua Lao or to cultivate more successors, it will inevitably go the course to extinction. What a pity it would be if that happened.”

Compared with the old days, the market of Lianhua Lao is declining. The number of people who listen to Lianhua Lao is limited, not to mention that of the artists! Before I set out to conduct the interview, I consulted Mrs. Yu, the manager of the Ningbo Folk Music Theatre, concerning the current situation of traditional folk arts in Ningbo. She told me that there are very few people performing Lianhua Lao in Ningbo;therefore, there is also no special performance team arranged in her theatre. Even if the government of Ningbo pays attention to traditional culture, they focus more on such local folk arts as Ningbo Zoushu (story-telling while walking), Siming Nanci and Ningbo Pinghua (story-telling in Ningbo dialect). Faced with such a status quo, Mr. Chen seemed to be helpless. In today's society, there are only a few folk artists trying to develop Lianhua Lao, and their impact is too limited to cast any great influence. Hearing Mr. Chen's dilemma, I felt the regret and sorrow in Mr. Chen's voice.

My Salute to Mr. Chen

But quickly, Mr. Chen managed to break the ice. “Regardless of the situation of Lianhua Lao in Ningbo, our generation has to insist on passing on Ningbo Lianhua. We are famous for performing Lianhua Lao. Now that we have gained fame and wealth, we certainly can't give up Lianhua Lao or turn a blind eye to the extinction of such a charming folk art! If someone is interested in Lianhua Lao and is willing to learn, I'm your teacher free of charge.”

I was touched by his words.

Now that Mr. Chen is in his midlife, he has got nearly all the titles and honors he had expected. However, he hasn't allowed success to blind him. Instead, he has never and will never shirk his duty as a successor of this intangible cultural heritage—Ningbo Lianhua.

Because of the fact that Mr. Chen doesn't care about personal gains and losses and that he inherits and promotes Lianhua Lao relentlessly, Lianhua Lao will remain and flourish in Ningbo.

It is because more and more people like Mr. Chen who have made unremitting efforts to protect the intangible cultural heritages that our traditional culture won't go extinct, and we can have the chance to pass on the endangered cultural essences to our offspring and to every corner of the world.

Mr. Chen is a microcosm of those lovely people who are still insisting on protecting intangible cultural heritages. It is because of them that China's intangible cultural heritages will surely have an optimistic and bright prospect.