Traditional art form rhymes with the times

Wearing traditional dresses and using very basic props－bamboo clappers, a kind of traditional Chinese percussion instrument of wooden panels or boards that, as the name suggests, are clapped against each other, Liu Jiming and Wan Yifu have been making and sharing short videos of the art form on social media platforms since 2019.

With a history dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the art form, kuaiban, can be performed by a group or solo. With one or two pairs of bamboo clappers of different sizes in their hands, the performers speak in the local dialect while telling stories, which are usually folktales and social issues.

As storytellers, Liu and Wan create original stories and speak their verses in rhyme to a beat set by the bamboo clappers. Their topics usually revolve around the local culture of Tianjin, their home, such as the city's history, iconic landmarks and food. They also discuss ongoing news items.

They recently released three short videos by using kuaiban, making comments about a dispute concerning the Chinese men's soccer team, which went viral on Chinese social media platforms. On Douyin, a Chinese popular short-video platform, those videos were viewed about 4 million times and the duo has gained more than 1 million followers on the platform.

The dispute arose on March 14 when comedian Gong Hanlin talked about the overpaid and disappointing performance of the national soccer team. Then an earlier short video by the famous Chinese comedian Feng Gong joking about the team was posted online, which made the dispute even more intense.

"Putting the dispute over the Chinese men's soccer team aside, we never expected that kuaiban would attract so many viewers since it's often considered as old-fashioned and appealing to older people," says Liu, 39.

"I am not a fan of soccer, unlike Wan, who has been watching games since he was a boy. It's natural to create those videos about soccer. The material is right there and we have something to say," says Liu.