ABSTRACT
This essay seeks to illustrate an aspect of the complex question of the survival of quyi (ballad-singing and storytelling arts) in China, looking at the matter from a popular cultural - as opposed to elite cultural - point of view. From that point of view it is obvious that quyi as such has not survived: it used to be a form of living popular culture; now it is, genre after genre, becoming a cultural relic cherished by intellectual connoisseurs and traditionalists, who by no means are the typical public of popular arts. The fact that academic conferences and workshops are being held on the topic is perhaps one of the clearest indicators of such a development, and the mere question of 'Will it survive?' is a sign of its likely demise. The decline has proceeded furthest in urban and suburban areas, but the spread of modem lifestyle (whatever the pace, depending on locality) will inevitably effectuate the same change everywhere. It is only a question of time.
