Qinggelei
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Qinggelei, Male, Mongolian, from Inner Mongolia, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Mongolian Morin Khuur Music (Ⅱ-35). The tradition is documented in Inner Mongolia. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mongolian Morin Khuur Music in Inner Mongolia: In its long historical development the horse-head fiddle formed different schools bearing a distinctly regional colour, and these schools are closely bound up with the gathering and scattering, the union and separation, within and outside the Mongol people and with historical change. Historically the horse-head fiddle had four great traditional performing schools, each with its own traditional performing repertory. The horse-head fiddle is one of the earliest bowed string instruments of the Mongol people, and its predecessor is generally thought to be connected with the horse-tail huqin and the hubo-si type of instruments used by the northern nomadic peoples in the Tang and Song periods. From the Yuan dynasty onwards, with the development of Mongol musical culture, the horse-head fiddle spread widely over the grasslands and gradually took fixed form with a horse's head as its ornament. From the Qing dynasty to the Republican period the horse-head fiddle became an indispensable instrument of Mongol ceremonial and customary activity and formed several performing schools in different regions.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Qinggelei is anchored in the documented technical standards of Mongolian Morin Khuur Music in Inner Mongolia. Within the documented technical tradition of Mongolian Morin Khuur Music in Inner Mongolia: The horse-head fiddle is a typical representative of Mongol musical culture: whether in its modelling, its materials of manufacture, or its tone colour, its style of musical expression and its method of playing, it embodies the inner character of the Mongol people, fully reflects the historical form of Mongol nomadic life and expresses the Mongol people's philosophical reflection on and apprehension of nature and the universe. The Mongol horse-head fiddle has a long history: it already existed at the time of the formation of the Mongol people. It may be said that the horse-head fiddle has come along with the Mongol people from the far distance of the grasslands and of history, carrying within it rich historical and cultural information. The horse-head fiddle is not only played on certain formal and solemn occasions but also appears in daily activities such as folk weddings and ceremonies and gatherings of relatives and friends; it can both accompany songs and perform pieces in solo. It has a profound social and customary foundation and performs such social functions as spreading culture, cultivating character and transforming customs. The traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle mostly evolved from folk songs and may be divided into five kinds: 1. native folk songs, such as Zhu Se Lian and Ba Ya Ling; 2. the named tunes of heroic epics, such as The Galloping Horse Tune and The Battle Tune; 3. the horse-step tunes, that is, tunes representing the image of the horse; 4. qin pieces developed from folk songs, such as He Yin Hua and Modelei; 5. ancient Han Chinese tunes, such as The Pu'an Incantation and Liu Qing Niang. The horse-head fiddle is extremely revered in Mongol culture and has become an extremely important form of expression of Mongol culture. In recent decades the development of the horse-head fiddle has met with serious difficulties. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Zhu Se Lian": One of the native folk songs among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle. "Ba Ya Ling": One of the native folk songs among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle. "The Galloping Horse Tune": A named tune of a heroic epic among the traditional repertory of the horse-head fiddle. "The Battle Tune": A named tune of a heroic epic among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle.
Zhu Se Lian
One of the native folk songs among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle.
Ba Ya Ling
One of the native folk songs among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle.
The Galloping Horse Tune
A named tune of a heroic epic among the traditional repertory of the horse-head fiddle.
The Battle Tune
A named tune of a heroic epic among the traditional pieces of the horse-head fiddle.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Qinggelei was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Mongolian Morin Khuur Music, with Inner Mongolia as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Mongolian Morin Khuur Music in Inner Mongolia: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Inner Mongolia as its declared area, and Inner Mongolia Art Research Institute (Inner Mongolia 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 horse-head fiddle is one of the earliest bowed string instruments of the Mongol people, and its predecessor is generally thought to be connected with the horse-tail huqin and the hubo-si type of instruments used by the northern nomadic peoples in the Tang and Song periods. From the Yuan dynasty onwards, with the development of Mongol musical culture, the horse-head fiddle spread widely over the grasslands and gradually took fixed form with a horse's head as its ornament. From the Qing dynasty to the Republican period the horse-head fiddle became an indispensable instrument of Mongol ceremonial and customary activity and formed several performing schools in different regions.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qi Baoligao | Inner Mongolia | 02-0273 | Same declared area |
| Bulin | Inner Mongolia | 03-0836 | Same declared area |
| Baoyuming | Fuxin, Liaoning | — | Other regional school |
| Qinggelei | Inner Mongolia | — | 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。