- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186414", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*T-DF 2023-001", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23446933", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"calendar"=>"gregorian", "era"=>"ce", "type"=>"inclusive", "value"=>"1920s-2020s"}
{"calendar"=>"gregorian", "era"=>"ce", "normal"=>"1950/1999", "type"=>"bulk", "value"=>"1950s-1990s"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Grace Chang collection on Baoting Chang"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"138 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"48.5 gigabytes", "unit"=>"gigabytes"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Billy Rose Theatre Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Baoting Chang (1929-2015) was a Chinese Xiang Sheng (\"cross-talk comedy\") comedian and performer whose career spanned seven decades. He grew up in a family of well-known Xiang Sheng performers. Chang's daughter Grace Chang made and compiled a collection of video and document files about Chang and the Chang family's performing careers. Although the files were created in 2020s, they reuse scripts, books, photographs, and video and sound recordings from the 1920s to 2018."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Multiple languages"}
{"value"=>"Material is in Chinese and English."}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Chang, Grace (actress)", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Baoting Chang was a Chinese Xiang Sheng (\"cross-talk comedy\") comedian and performer whose career spanned seven decades. Xiang Sheng is a performing art incorporating rapid speech, imitation, teasing, and singing. The art uses puns and typically involves a stock straight man and stooge. A sketch usually involves at least two performers. Born into a theatrical family in 1929, Chang learned Xiang Sheng from his father, Lianan Chang, and his brothers. He grew up performing at the Chang family teahouse theater with them. In the 1930s, Chang and his brothers Baokun, Baohua, and Baolin became a group known as the Mushroom Brothers. Aside from his stage performances, Chang also performed on the radio, television, and film. In 1944, Chang and his brother Baohua appeared in the film <span class=\"title\">Jin Xiu Ge Cheng</span>. Lianan Chang also performed skits on national radio broadcasts.</p> <p>In the 1940s, Chang married Changmin Yu.</p> <p>As his performing career developed, Chang and his family performed with companies that created a new performing art form by combining Xiang Sheng with folk singing, Peking opera, and drama. Chang's best-known Xiang Sheng partner was Quanfu Bai with whom he performed for fifty years. They started performing their signature comedy sketch \"Peking Street Peddlers\" in the 1950s. In 1951, Lianan Chang became the director of the Folk Art Theatre in Tianjin, China. Chang and his family advanced and taught a unique version of Xiang Sheng, that continues to be studied at national folk art performance schools.</p> <p>In the 1970s and 1980s, some of Chang's other Xiang Sheng partners included Peiyuan Wong and Dekui Xu. In the 1980s, Chang performed Xiang Sheng with his children and books began to be published about the Chang family's unique form of Xiang Sheng. Chang received the Peony Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and was honored as National Grandmaster of Xiang Sheng in the 2010s. His last stage appearance was on September 23, 2014. Chang died four months later in 2015.</p> <p>Grace Chang, one of Chang's children, grew up in China and is an actress, filmmaker, and writer. She performed as a professional magician before landing her first film role in <span class=\"title\">The Joy Luck Club</span> (1993).</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Grace Chang collection on Baoting Chang was created in the 2020s and chronicles the performing career and memorial service of Chinese Xiang Sheng (\"cross-talk comedy\") performer Baoting Chang. The collection is composed of document and video files, created and compiled by Grace Chang, that reproduce print photographs of Chang, the Chang family, and Chang's Xiang Sheng partners; periodical press clippings of Chang's career; books written about Chang and the Chang family; manuscripts written by Chang; Chang's Xiang Sheng scripts; Chang's awards and memorabilia; and video and sound recordings of Chang and the Chang family's radio, television, and film performances from the 1920s to 2018. The majority of the documents and videos depict photographs, scripts, and performances from the 1950s to the 1990s.</p> <p>The video and document files are arranged alphabetically by performer, then by original format.</p> <p>Five of the documents are copies of slideshows with embedded digitized copies of print photographs depicting Chang's performances and rehearsals, Chang's writing, periodical press clippings of Chang's career, a list of books written about Chang and the Chang family, and Chang's awards and memorabilia. The materials appearing in the documents date from the 1920s to the 2010s. These five slideshow documents contain captions that Grace Chang wrote in Chinese and English.</p> <p>The other document files are scans of Baoting Chang's Xiang Sheng scripts and books about Chang and his family. These files are in Chinese and the reproduced materials date from 1958 to 2018.</p> <p>The video files hold television and video segments from the end of Chang's life; audio recordings of Chang and Lianan Chang's radio skits and performances; Chang's filmed or videoed stage and television performances; and a video about Chang and his male relatives' performing careers. The videos reuse photographs and sound and video recordings from the 1930s to 2015.</p> <p>Chang's end-of-life videos incorporate clippings from his final appearance on-stage, his memorial service, a television segment on the Chang family, and television clips announcing his death.</p> <p>The video files featuring original audio recordings of Xiang Sheng sketches fall into two categories: repurposed radio broadcasts from the National People's Broadcasting Station and audio recordings of Chang's performances. The radio broadcasts spotlight either Chang or Lianan Chang's national radio sketches. These video files open with an image of Lianan Chang and his sons with a title text summarizing the skit superimposed on the image. The image highlights the performer who speaks in the audio recording.</p> <p>The other category of video files are of Baoting Chang's audio performances, but it is unclear whether they are from stage, radio, or television performances. The videos open with a picture of the actors performing the sketch with the title and their names in Chinese and English superimposed on the image. The picture fades into a title card summarizing the sketch in English, and the title card fades into another picture of the actors. The videos end with a downward scan of Chang's biographical book and his name and lifespan dates. While Quanfu Bai acts as Chang's Xiang Sheng partner in the majority of the videos, there are also appearances by Baofeng Chang, Chang's son Guide Chang, Lianan Chang, Runjie Li, Zhicun Ma, Wenmao Su, Peiyuan Wong, Dekui Xv, and Shaohua Yang.</p> <p>The rest of the videos are made up of Chang's filmed or videoed stage and television performances as well as a video about him and his male relatives. The video about the Chang family features clips of performances and interviews with Xiang Sheng comedians. Of note are three different performances of <span class=\"title\">Peking Street Peddlers</span>.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Grace Chang, 2023.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Amy Lau</span> in <span class=\"date\">2024</span>.</p>"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Grace Chang collection on Baoting Chang, *T-DF 2023-001. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}