Legend of folk storytelling in northern Shaanxi

According to folklore, storytelling in northern Shaanxi began when Huang San ruled the world. According to legend, a long time ago, an old man gave birth to three sons and grew up to be slaves. The eldest son was named rhubarb, and the slave owner cut off a hand. Huang Er, the second son, had a broken leg, and san huang, the third son, blinded his master. The three brothers were reduced to begging in Qinghua County, northern Shaanxi. One day, rhubarb picked up two rotten boards, knocked on the boards and begged along the door, said some auspicious words, and the owner gave them some leftovers. Once upon a time, when people ate sheep, they picked up their intestines, dried them, spread them on boards, and then made their own pipa. From then on, they cooperated with each other, playing and singing. Huang Er wants to know who will bang the banger after his eldest brother dies. He had a brainwave, simply tied two boards to his leg and sang while playing. Later, the eldest brother and the second son went to Linxian County, Shanxi Province, but san huang stayed in northern Shaanxi. After marriage, they gave birth to five sons and taught them the skill of playing the pipa. After getting married, eldest brother received 36 apprentices, passed on Sanxian to 18 apprentices, settled in Yulin area, and passed on the skills of lotus, pipa and Sanxian to future generations. This folklore is enough to witness the long history of storytelling in northern Shaanxi. Northern Shaanxi storytelling is a folk rap art in northern Shaanxi, which is deeply loved by people (especially farmers) in northern Shaanxi. The storytelling in northern Shaanxi is most suitable for performing in the fields and on the kang in the courtyard. The audience can be hundreds, dozens or even several people. Generally speaking, a storyteller is a person, holding Sanxian or Pipa in his arms, with wooden boards tied to his feet, and holding Sanxian and clapboard in his hands, while singing, some short stories can also be sung to the end without saying a word: or after all, without singing at all.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, Quyi was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.