Suzhou Farce takes "funny" as the basic element and is popular in the Yangtze River Delta Region. At the beginning of the 20th century, Suzhou writer Xu Banmei initiated "slapstick", and won himself a reputation of "Oriental Chaplin". After that, Slapstick began to integrate the joke making style from one-man show and modern dramas. It grew rapidly from one-act playlet into a large or medium-sized multi-stage show and eventually become a separate drama genre. Suzhou Farce utilizes four basic skills: speak, laugh, act, and sing, to amuse people. As Suzhou Farce originates in Suzhou, it usually takes advantage of the Suzhou dialect to make people laugh. By citing the colloquial humor from local speech, or introducing the misunderstanding between different dialects in different places, the performers make the audience laugh. And over the laughter, a story is told and a character modeled. This is the unique trait of Suzhou Farce.
Inheritors of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Suzhou Farce: Gu Xiang, Zhang Keqin.
