Yansang
01 · Lineage & Regional School
In 1944 he studied the chanting of the Sigangli creation epic and the conduct of sacrificial rites under his father Yan Limu; in adulthood he presided independently over various sacrificial activities and became proficient in divination and in reading omens of good and ill fortune. His lineage is clearly documented, and he enjoyed high prestige among the local Wa people. Within the regional tradition and school record of Sigangli in Ximengwazuzizhi, Yunnan: Sigangli circulates in the Wa-concentrated areas of Cangyuan, Lancang and the Ximeng Wa Autonomous County of Yunnan, the chanting tradition of the Ximeng Wa Autonomous County area being especially complete. Sigang means stone cave, cave or gourd in the Wa language. The work describes the various stories that occurred after mankind came out of the Sigang, including the origin of mankind and the closely related emergence of plants and animals, the deeds of the ancestors, village history, clan history, national history, ethnic relations, heroic stories and love stories. Through the Wa forebears' distinctive interpretation of the universe and the origin of mankind, Sigangli describes with rich imagination the process of labour creating the world and the primitive cosmology, expressing the wish of the various peoples to live together in friendship and unity. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 the Wa passed directly from the late primitive society into the stage of new-democratic society; their creation epic Sigangli was for the first time recorded in writing in the ethnic survey of the 1950s. In the 1980s a complete recorded text appeared and was translated into Chinese and published.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
He was a chanter of Sigangli. He could chant, recite from memory and narrate in full and systematically the legends of Sigangli, the migrations of villages and genealogies; he was familiar with traditional Wa customs and all kinds of ritual activities, and was a highly renowned bachai in the locality (among the Wa, one able to preside over religious rites and believed to have the power to communicate with spirits), holding considerable authority in the surrounding villages. Within the documented technical tradition of Sigangli in Ximengwazuzizhi, Yunnan: The Wa creation epic Sigangli circulates in Cangyuan, Lancang and the Ximeng Wa Autonomous County of Yunnan. Sigang means stone cave, cave or gourd in the Wa language. Its content touches the Wa and natural phenomena, plants and animals, production and life, clan history, traditional customs, tribal wars, sacrifices and multiplication. The whole poem has more than five thousand seven hundred lines and is a magnificent ancient Wa creation song. Handed down from generation to generation and continually enriched, it has become a comprehensive vehicle of the national folk traditional culture of the Wa, including history, morality, religion, philosophy and custom, the crystallisation of the collective wisdom of the Wa people and a classic of Wa folk oral literature. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Origin of Mankind": The core content of Sigangli in which mankind comes out of the Sigang. "Village Migration and Genealogy": The content of village migration and genealogy in Sigangli. "The Chanting and Singing Form": The form of transmission that gradually developed from storytelling into chanting and singing.
The Origin of Mankind
The core content of Sigangli in which mankind comes out of the Sigang.
Village Migration and Genealogy
The content of village migration and genealogy in Sigangli.
The Chanting and Singing Form
The form of transmission that gradually developed from storytelling into chanting and singing.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
Male, Wa, born in February 1924 and deceased in January 2016, a native of Ximeng Wa Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. He was a representative bearer of Sigangli, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His disciple was Yan You.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The work describes the various stories that occurred after mankind came out of the Sigang, including the origin of mankind and the closely related emergence of plants and animals, the deeds of the ancestors, village history, clan history, national history, ethnic relations, heroic stories and love stories. Through the Wa forebears' distinctive interpretation of the universe and the origin of mankind, Sigangli describes with rich imagination the process of labour creating the world and the primitive cosmology, expressing the wish of the various peoples to live together in friendship and unity. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 the Wa passed directly from the late primitive society into the stage of new-democratic society; their creation epic Sigangli was for the first time recorded in writing in the ethnic survey of the 1950s. In the 1980s a complete recorded text appeared and was translated into Chinese and published.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yansang | Ximengwazuzizhi, Yunnan | 04-1502 | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。