Tong Aina
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Tong Aina, Female, Han, from Meizhou, Guangdong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs (Ⅱ-11). The tradition is documented in Meizhou, Guangdong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs in Meizhou, Guangdong: The Meizhou Hakka mountain songs are folk songs sung in the Hakka dialect by the nearly five million people of Meizhou city's six counties, one city and one district; they circulate in the Hakka region of north-eastern Guangdong and have spread to the overseas areas of settlement of Meizhou Hakka. The Meizhou Hakka mountain songs spread and multiplied along with the formation of the Hakka community; they are the product of the fusion of Central Plains culture with the indigenous culture of Meizhou, and their lyrics are richly poetic, resembling the bamboo-branch songs and carrying the lingering charm of the “Airs of the States” and the “Wu songs”. As early as the late Qing scholars such as Huang Zunxian set store by collecting and sorting them, and for several hundred years they have been current by oral folk transmission in Meizhou and in the overseas Hakka areas of settlement.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Tong Aina is anchored in the documented technical standards of Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs in Meizhou, Guangdong. Within the documented technical tradition of Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs in Meizhou, Guangdong: The Meizhou Hakka mountain songs spread and multiplied along with the formation of the Hakka community in the Song and Ming, and are the product of the fusion of Central Plains culture with the indigenous culture of Meizhou. Their lyrics are richly poetic, resembling the bamboo-branch songs and carrying the lingering charm of the “Airs of the States” and the “Wu songs”. They have nearly a hundred kinds of tune; the pitch is high, drawn out and long, steady and smooth with little undulation; the register is relatively high and the range relatively narrow; stepwise motion is more common and leaps rarer; the rhythm is free and the metre varied, often with several metres mixed in one song. Tens of thousands of sets of lyrics circulate among the folk, their content including work songs, topical songs, ceremonial songs, etiquette songs, love songs, other songs of daily life and children's songs, covering every aspect of Hakka life, of which the love songs are the most numerous, the most splendid in content and the highest in literary value. The Meizhou Hakka mountain songs are an important component of Hakka culture and a treasure of folk music and folk literature. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Nearly a Hundred Kinds of Tune": The system of tunes with a high and drawn-out pitch, a relatively high register, a relatively narrow range and varied metre. "Love-Song Mountain Songs": The mountain-song category most numerous in quantity, most splendid in content and highest in literary value. "Work Songs, Topical Songs, Ceremonial Songs, Etiquette Songs and Children's Songs": The categories of the tens of thousands of lyrics circulating among the folk and covering every aspect of Hakka life. "The Five-Line Clapper Songs and Traditional Oral Transmission": The traditional Hakka mountain-song five-line clapper songs collected and published by Tang Mingzhe, and the oral folk manner of transmission.
Nearly a Hundred Kinds of Tune
The system of tunes with a high and drawn-out pitch, a relatively high register, a relatively narrow range and varied metre.
Love-Song Mountain Songs
The mountain-song category most numerous in quantity, most splendid in content and highest in literary value.
Work Songs, Topical Songs, Ceremonial Songs, Etiquette Songs and Children's Songs
The categories of the tens of thousands of lyrics circulating among the folk and covering every aspect of Hakka life.
The Five-Line Clapper Songs and Traditional Oral Transmission
The traditional Hakka mountain-song five-line clapper songs collected and published by Tang Mingzhe, and the oral folk manner of transmission.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Tong Aina was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs, with Meizhou, Guangdong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Meizhou Kejia Mountain Songs in Meizhou, Guangdong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Meizhou, Guangdong as its declared area, and Meizhou Cultural Center (Meizhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding 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
The Meizhou Hakka mountain songs spread and multiplied along with the formation of the Hakka community; they are the product of the fusion of Central Plains culture with the indigenous culture of Meizhou, and their lyrics are richly poetic, resembling the bamboo-branch songs and carrying the lingering charm of the “Airs of the States” and the “Wu songs”. As early as the late Qing scholars such as Huang Zunxian set store by collecting and sorting them, and for several hundred years they have been current by oral folk transmission in Meizhou and in the overseas Hakka areas of settlement.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yu Yaonan | Meizhou, Guangdong | 02-0235 | Same declared area |
| Tang Mingzhe | Meizhou, Guangdong | 03-0814 | Same declared area |
| Tong Aina | Meizhou, Guangdong | — | 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。