There’s something absurd about an older man busting rhymes on stage, but that has not stopped Jan Walls from making a career out of it.

Walls’s rapping inspiration is not Eminem, Vanilla Ice or the Beastie Boys. He’s a bit more old school.

Walls, one of the leading North American fast clappertales, specializes in the popular form of Chinese rap, which combines rapid storytelling with rhythmic beats.

He performed the traditional Chinese rap at BU Central in the George Sherman Union last Friday for more than 80 students and professors, many of whom do not speak Chinese.

Fast clappertale performers range from amateurs to professionals and are not as common as they once were, but they are still found in almost every Chinese city. They often are featured on Chinese radio and television.

“It’s lively, rhythmic, dramatic and always humorous,” Walls said.

Walls, who first began teaching Chinese at the University of British Columbia in the early 1970s, said the clappertale is a fun way to listen to a story and a great way to develop vocabulary and expressions, which can help students master the Chinese language.

The Asian Studies Initiative at BU, an academic cultural club formed this year to promote communication between Asian studies faculty and students, organized the show with the East Asian Studies Interdisciplinary Program.

“The unique feature of Walls’s show is that he translates into English the rhythmic jokes that usually are sung in Chinese, and thus are understood only by Chinese audiences,” said assistant history professor Eugenio Menegon in an email.

Even audience members with no knowledge of the Chinese language were able to enjoy the comical performance, which showed traditional Chinese art through the centuries.

While any text, even contemporary ones, can be adapted for clappertale, Menegon said the art has the potential to develop in the modern world.

Many students said they liked the exposure to Chinese culture through Walls’s humorous storytelling.

“[Walls’s] compelling show illustrated something new and unpredictable,” said College of General Studies sophomore Felicia Nguyen.