December 25, 2011~April 30, 2012
Organizer: Historical Documentation Center, Shanghai Library
Venue: Lobby, the ‘Modern Document Reading Area’, First floor, Shanghai Library

AN Exhibition featuring historical materials about the Shanghai dialect farce (Huajixi) is now underway at the Shanghai Library and will run through the end of April 2012.

The Huajixi is a traditional comic performance, which came into existence in the modern time in Shanghai and its peripheral regions. It ushered the flourishing years at the turn of the 20th century when the performers who took the streets at the very beginning to make their life gradually moved into the theatres, playgrounds and even radio stations. By the 1930s and the 1940s, the actors began to organise performing troupes to stage full-length comic plays. This had catalyzed the birth of a lot of famous artists, playwrights and dramas.

As an art form reflecting the various facets of the city life and famous for the ways it expresses the drama conflicts from trifles, the Huajixi has brought much joy to the local people while still maintaining its unique characteristics and vitalities.