Shanghai Daily News

Tang Xiufang is still as active as ever. Though 62 years old, she runs fast, laughs loud and speaks in a clear and interesting way.

While some might imagine retired life to be dull and gray, this Jinshan native and local farmer of the district's Fengjing Town stays energetic and vital through her favorite hobby, or passion as she describes it, story-telling.

"I have loved reading and telling stories since I was a little girl," she says with a bright smile. "Just standing up there on stage - or in this case, in front of a large audience - takes guts. But I do really enjoy it because it is my way of bringing laughter to villagers and giving them food for thought."

Unlike best-selling stories with complicated plots that are usually skillfully transcribed by professional writers, the stories Tang writes and tells are simple but stirring, candid but neatly worked-out, easy to understand and remember and they reflect local village life. From ecstasy to despair, bliss to befuddlement, serenity to slapstick, it's all there.

From a farmer to a teacher, a countryside factory director to the town's librarian, she has had a varied career over the past 40 years. But one thing that hasn't wavered is her love of telling stories.

Tang still clearly remembers the first time she told a story on stage. "I was just a 20-year-old newbie at the time, young and green and nervous when faced with so many people staring at me and listening to me. But to my surprise, it turned out to be a complete success," she said proudly. "I could tell it from their eyes and their applause."

From then on, Tang began her career as a storyteller. "It has become an important part of my life," she says. "From a young girl four decades ago to today's old bag, I've dedicated all of my spare time to it."

Without any fancy stage props or glitzy special costumes, she easily attracts the listeners' attention with her idiomatic Jinshan dialect, vivid story telling technique and expressive gestures and language.

Tang puts a lot of time and effort into her storytelling.

Before each performance, she recites pages of lines. "All of those staff, words, names and numbers, I have to memorize by heart. Sometimes, I have to stay up all night," she says.

In 2001, Tang was invited to be the host of a TV program called Jinshan Story Show on the local TV station.

"It was quite an experience for me, totally different from my previous performances," she said. "There were many new things I'd never heard of."

Head up, eyes to the camera, no moving around and no large audience in front of her, Tang felt a little uneasy at first. However, this was not the biggest problem.

"There were 54 episodes with 300 pages of script to recite, quite a challenge," she says. "It was no easy task."

In the kitchen, on her way to work and even in her dreams, she was reciting and memorizing the stories.

Tang's efforts paid off. Her story "A Special Policeman" become a hit that year and it was very popular among locals.

"I read almost everything, news, novels and autobiographies, among others," she says, pointing to a pile of newspaper in the corner. "I get my story ideas from those newspapers, magazines and books."

As a correspondent with Jinshan Daily, a local newspaper, this energetic lady has traveled around the district's more than 60 villages and towns, interviewing a wide range of people such as farmers, migrant workers and countryside entrepreneurs. This also helps her to draw inspiration for the stories.

Tang now is something of a celebrity in the district. "Everybody in the district knows me, except the infants," she jokes. "Whenever they see me on the road, I am always asked to tell a short story. I feel indeed honored and happy to have such mini-shows."

Her stories touch on many topics, including birth-control policy, law awareness, farming, arranged marriage and basic etiquette, among others.

"One thing will never change. That is, the stories I write and tell are all about the farmers and they are true to their daily lives," Tang says beaming.