Chenyuelan
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Chenyuelan, Female, Han, from Maanshan, Anhui, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Dangtu Folk Songs (Ⅱ-5). The tradition is documented in Maanshan, Anhui. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dangtu Folk Songs in Maanshan, Anhui: Those current in the Dangtu Dagongwei area are the work chantey, the ox song and the dance tune; those current in the Boping, Huyang and Xinshi area are the boat song, the fishing song and the lantern song; and those current along the river at Caishi, Huoli and Xinqiao are the rice-transplanting song, the antiphonal song and the gate song. Records of Dangtu folk songs exist as early as the Six Dynasties period (220–589): the famous “white song and dance” presided over by the Liu-Song emperor Liu Yu was one line of Dangtu folk-song singing. The more than twenty “field-husband treading songs” by the Northern Song poet Li Zhiyi, who lived for a long time in Dangtu, and his chant “I live at the head of the Yangtze, you live at the tail of the Yangtze” both belong to the folk-song category. In the Qing dynasty the Dangtu man Huang Yue wrote more than fifty “Yuhu bamboo-branch lyrics” taking local customs and ways as their main content, representing the highest artistic level of Dangtu folk songs at that time. After 1949 the Dangtu people formed an upsurge of creating and singing folk songs, which reached its height in the late 1950s.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Chenyuelan is anchored in the documented technical standards of Dangtu Folk Songs in Maanshan, Anhui. Within the documented technical tradition of Dangtu Folk Songs in Maanshan, Anhui: The Dangtu folk song is the general name for the various folk songs current on both banks of the Yangtze in eastern Anhui. They are numerous and wide in subject, their content touching almost every aspect of social life. At the same time the folk songs of the plains, the polder areas and the hilly districts are wonderfully varied, forming many kinds of genre. The Dangtu folk song is rich in language, complete in structure, varied in tune and distinctive in singing, showing the charm of a markedly local folk music and language art. Representative pieces include The Wheat-Threshing Song, The Ox-Herding Song and Sister Hoes the Bean Rows in the Field. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Wheat-Threshing Song": Representative pieces of the Dangtu folk song include The Wheat-Threshing Song, The Ox-Herding Song and Sister Hoes the Bean Rows in the Field. "The Ox-Herding Song": A representative Dangtu folk song classified among the ox songs of the plains and polder areas. "Sister Hoes the Bean Rows in the Field": A representative Dangtu folk song of the rice-transplanting and field-labour group.
The Wheat-Threshing Song
Representative pieces of the Dangtu folk song include The Wheat-Threshing Song, The Ox-Herding Song and Sister Hoes the Bean Rows in the Field.
The Ox-Herding Song
A representative Dangtu folk song classified among the ox songs of the plains and polder areas.
Sister Hoes the Bean Rows in the Field
A representative Dangtu folk song of the rice-transplanting and field-labour group.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Chenyuelan was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Dangtu Folk Songs, with Maanshan, Anhui as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Dangtu Folk Songs in Maanshan, Anhui: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Maanshan, Anhui as its declared area, and Dangtu County Cultural Center as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Records of Dangtu folk songs exist as early as the Six Dynasties period (220–589): the famous “white song and dance” presided over by the Liu-Song emperor Liu Yu was one line of Dangtu folk-song singing. The more than twenty “field-husband treading songs” by the Northern Song poet Li Zhiyi, who lived for a long time in Dangtu, and his chant “I live at the head of the Yangtze, you live at the tail of the Yangtze” both belong to the folk-song category. In the Qing dynasty the Dangtu man Huang Yue wrote more than fifty “Yuhu bamboo-branch lyrics” taking local customs and ways as their main content, representing the highest artistic level of Dangtu folk songs at that time. After 1949 the Dangtu people formed an upsurge of creating and singing folk songs, which reached its height in the late 1950s.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tao Xiaomei | Maanshan, Anhui | 05-2036 | Same declared area |
| Chenyuelan | Maanshan, Anhui | — | 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。