Changle Stories

Changle is an ancient town with a history of one thousand years. It is located in the northeast of Hunan's Miluo City, at the foot of picturesque Zhifeng Mountain, and in the north of famous Miluo River. It is adjacent to 107 and 108 national highways in the west. Lying at the junction of Pingjiang, Miluo and Yueyang counties, it functions as the political, economic and cultural center of a dozen surrounding towns and townships. The town was once part of the territory of Luozi Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn period (771 to 476 BC), and an old city under the jurisdiction of Yuezhou in Southern Liang Dynasty (502 – 557). It was dubbed as "little Nanjing in northern Hunan" because of its primitive architecture of "Huilongmen" in which stories of Qu Yuan were recorded, ancient granite streets, breathtaking architecture, outstanding talents, and pristine folk customs.

With a time-honored history, Changle stories have been passing down for a thousand years. It was evolved from ancient sacrificial activities which were held in every first lunar month and lantern shows during the Lantern Festival. According to research, it was originated in the Sui (581 – 618) and Tang (618 – 907) dynasties, flourished in the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) dynasties and peaked in the 1980s. Presently, it has become one of people's favorite folk cultural arts in northern Hunan.

Changle stories are not merely performed in a storytelling way, but a collection of thrilling, spectacular, venturous and skillful traditional folk acrobatic show, or a unique, ancient and mysterious folk art, integrating performance, colored drawing, history, astronomy, geography, people's conditions, and spirit of the times. These stories signify the development of dumb show from opera stage to outdoor stage, presenting the most humanized intuitive performance. Prevalent in Changle Town and its surrounding area, Changle stories are miracles of folk culture and art.

Changle stories, consisting of stories from upper and lower streets, fall into four categories of Di stories, Ditai stories, Gaocai stories and Gaoqiao (high stilts) stories. What makes it distinctive is that the stories integrate with typical and representative prominent figures, events and scenes of folk historical legends. Via the perfect combination of people and props, the stories are supplemented by the group flag, buntings, plaques, lanterns, oil drums, awe-inspiring gongs and drums, bands, and dragon dance (colorful dragon and fire dragon), lion dance, land boating and waist drum. A story competition is often launched between upper and lower streets to appeal to a large number of audience. A warm and spectacular atmosphere to celebrate the Spring Festival is therefore created via the competition in terms of quantity, prestige, height, wisdom, novelty, skills, writing, performing arts and styles. The stories are said to be a living fossil recording history and civilization, which reflects like and dislike, as well as loyalty and treachery, permeates humor and irony, conveys friendship and blessing, prays for fortune and peace, and upholds science and civilization. 

Note: Land Boating is a performance to imitate rowing boat in the water while people use bamboo, wood or straws to make the outline of the ship, cover it with the silk and draw different pictures or write the auspicious word on it. Some boats have roofs with colored silk. Certain land boats are three meters long, and some only one meter. When land boat is on, the performer stands in the center of the boat and ties it to his waist. In this way the boat is moving with his running. The movement of the land boat is caused by the running of people, so it is called Land Boating. 

The story contest plays an important role in enriching people's spiritual and cultural life, laying cultural foundation for the ancient town, purifying social morality, boosting the popularity of the town and promoting economic development. 

Changle Town was honored with "National Key Central Town" "National Civilized Town" "Home of Mass Culture and Arts in Hunan" "Top 100 Towns in Hunan" "Hunan Provincial Spark Technology Demonstration Town" and "Hunan Poetry Land". In 2006, Changle stories was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage projects under provincial key protection. In 2008, the town was granted "Home of Chinese Folk Culture and Arts". In Oct., 2008, the masterpiece of Battle Against Lu Wenlong won Silver Award and Organization Award at the 7th Chinese Folk Arts Festival & "Mountain Flowers Award" Chinese Folk Piaose (Taige) Art Exhibition. In 2009, the town was appraised as "Provincial Famous Tourism Town" by the Hunan Provincial Department of Construction and the Hunan Tourism Bureau.