Huang Qingfang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Huang Qingfang, Female, Han, from Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Mashan Folk Songs (Ⅱ-81). The tradition is documented in Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mashan Folk Songs in Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei: Among these field songs, the “five-line songs” and the various “chuan ju zi”, the interlined phrases sung with one voice leading and all responding, are highly characteristic of the locality, and are of one piece with the “Yangge”, the raised songs, and the “Yingzhong field songs” of the Chu region recorded in historical texts. Mashan folk songs are passed down in Mashan town in the north-west of Jingzhou city, Hubei Province, and radiate to the surrounding townships of Jinan, Jiudian, Chuandian, Libu, Baling, Guanyandang and Mishi and to the area bordering Jingmen, Yicheng, Dangyang and Zhijiang. Mashan folk songs are the surviving remnant of the ancient folk field songs of Yingzhong; in the Warring States period Song Yu's “Questions Addressed to the King of Chu” describes the Yingzhong field songs in the words “there were guests singing in Yingzhong, who began with Xia Li and Ba Ren, and several hundred people in the state answered and sang along”; from then on the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties all leave records of the transmission of the Yingzhong field songs.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Huang Qingfang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Mashan Folk Songs in Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei. Within the documented technical tradition of Mashan Folk Songs in Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei: Mashan folk songs are passed down mainly in Mashan town in the north-west of Jingzhou city, Hubei Province, and, centred there, radiate to the surrounding townships of Jinan, Jiudian, Chuandian, Libu, Baling, Guanyandang and Mishi and to the area bordering Jingmen city, Yicheng city, Dangyang city and Zhijiang county. The Mashan folk songs of Jingzhou have a long history and are the surviving remnant of the ancient folk field songs of Yingzhong. In the Warring States period, in the reign of King Xiang of Chu, Song Yu's “Questions Addressed to the King of Chu” briefly described the Yingzhong field songs in the words “there were guests singing in Yingzhong, who began with Xia Li and Ba Ren, and several hundred people in the state answered and sang along”. After that, the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing periods all leave records of the transmission of the Yingzhong field songs. Mashan has practised rice agriculture since ancient times, which produced a great many field songs and formed the custom of singing while transplanting seedlings, pulling out the weeds, harvesting and threshing. Mashan folk songs are of many kinds, with beautiful melodies, a distinctive style and broad content, love being the most frequent subject. Of the 142 folk songs already collected, more than seventy are field songs, accounting for over 50 per cent, and there are also labour songs, xiaoqu, lantern songs, children's songs, custom songs and primal religious songs. Among the field songs, the “five-line songs” are further divided into “Han Wu Ju”, “Chuan Wu Ju” and “Gan Wu Ju”; their basic melodies differ little, but their formal structures differ considerably. Mashan folk songs are strongly melodic; their tunes are developed mostly from variations on the three notes 5, 1 and 2, and in performance they are accompanied by drum, gong, cymbals, small gong and suona; when they were taken to the stage after the founding of the People's Republic of China the erhu, yangqin, pipa and bamboo flute were added as well. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "La Ba Diao": One of the most widely circulated tunes of the Mashan folk songs, adopting a structural form combining one voice leading with all responding and a main clause with interlined clauses; it is a representative piece of the inheritor Wang Zhaozhen. "Ding Dang Diao": One of the most widely circulated tunes of the Mashan folk songs, and a representative piece of the inheritor Wang Zhaozhen. "Xiu He Bao tune": One of the representative folk songs sung by the inheritor Wang Zhaozhen. "Gan Wu Ju": One of the representative folk songs sung by the inheritor Wang Zhaozhen.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Huang Qingfang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Mashan Folk Songs, with Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Mashan Folk Songs in Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei as its declared area, and Jingzhou Jingzhou District Cultural Center (Jingzhou Jingzhou District Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center, Jingzhou Jingzhou District Chu Ju Transmission 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

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.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Huangqingfang (Jingzhoushijingzhou, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Huangqingfang · China ICH Official Archive