Traditional art form rhymes with the times

In January, when Tianjin went through a new wave of COVID-19 infections, some communities were locked down.

A video, which features a local medical worker calling for residents to do nucleic acid test by performing kuaiban, went viral online. The medical worker played bamboo clappers while speaking in rhyming verse. His humor and creative lyrics won widespread applause.

"Tianjin people are known for their great sense of humor. We are also positive and optimistic," says Liu.

Both graduated from Tianjin Normal University and majoring in performing arts, Liu and Wan met at the Tianjin People's Art Theater in 2007. They were actors at the theater and they also teamed up working on original scripts as well as directing plays.

In 2019, during a nationwide tour, they decided to make short videos of kuaiban to promote Tianjin culture to audiences around the country.

"Both of us learned to play bamboo clappers by ourselves in the beginning, the verses were very simple so that we could match the rhythm of the bamboo clappers," says Liu.

"The art form of kuaiban is easily understood. The stories told in kuaiban pieces are close to people's daily lives. Thus, we considered that it would be a fun way to introduce Tianjin through kuaiban with a local dialect," adds Wan.

After deciding to perform as a duo, they bought traditional dresses, one in green and the other in red, as their trademark labels. Named after the colors of the dresses, they called themselves as "red carp and green carp", which was inspired by a popular Chinese tongue twister.

Though they are not professional kuaiban performers, Liu and Wan have built up a fan base with their performing style, making use of their acting techniques as professional actors.

"We write our scripts together. We usually use two different characters to tell the stories, such as a good guy and a bad guy, hoping to make the performance much more dramatic," says Liu.