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Elingqiao

Daur Wuqin Narrative SingingQuyi (Narrative Performing Arts)Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner MongoliaBatch 6 (2025)

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Elingqiao, Female, Daur, from Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing (Ⅴ-41). The tradition is documented in Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia. Within the regional tradition and school record of Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing in Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia: In Morin Dawa, uqin is mostly sung at gatherings on New Year days and at celebrations on auspicious occasions; listeners crowd onto the heated kang of village homes, sitting cross-legged, and listen to the artists for days and nights on end. The programme divides by subject into several lines — Morigen heroic stories, love and marriage, scenery and landscape, and myths and fairy tales — of which Shaolang and Daifu has the character of an epic; there are also long works adapted from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, as well as short pieces such as Fishing, Woodcutting and Going to the Ganjur Temple Fair to Shop. Uqin was originally narrative poetry composed in Manchu and recited in a chanting style; in the Qing dynasty Daur literati used it to record campaigns, garrison farming and village affairs, and later folk artists began rendering these manuscripts aloud as spoken-and-sung performance, so that 'uqin' came to change from the name of a literary form into the name of a genre. The Nen River basin is its main area of transmission, and it is also current in Morin Dawa, Qiqihar, Fularji, Fuyu and Longjiang, as well as among the Daur settlements of Tacheng in Xinjiang.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Elingqiao is anchored in the documented technical standards of Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing in Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia. Within the documented technical tradition of Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing in Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia: Uqin is a Daur genre, also called 'wuchun', meaning 'folk narrative poem'. It is sung in the Daur language and is widely current among the Daur people of the Nen River basin. Uqin mostly deals with productive labour, social life, resistance to oppression, and instruction and admonition; a single work may run from a few stanzas to more than a hundred. This minority genre has no fixed chanting tune, but its performing styles are rich and varied: some low and sonorous, some cheerful and bright, some plaintive and elegiac. Daur uqin was performed at first purely from the mouth; it later developed into a form in which the performer holds a 'huachangsi' (four-stringed fiddle) and both plays and sings it himself. The spoken-and-sung narration of uqin is chiefly in rhymed verse, combining unrhymed and rhymed passages. Its lines follow a fixed format: four lines to a stanza, rhyming on the head rhyme, with a rhyme falling every two lines or every four lines. No padding syllables are inserted among the lines, so that when chanted the sounds and the metre are harmonious and rich in rhythm. Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Wang Guo Wu Qin (The Kingdom Uqin)": Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression. "Ying Ying Zhi Ge (The Song of Yingying)": Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression. "Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber)": Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression. "Shi Mei (The Thirteenth Sister)": Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression.

Wang Guo Wu Qin (The Kingdom Uqin)

Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression.

Ying Ying Zhi Ge (The Song of Yingying)

Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression.

Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber)

Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression.

Shi Mei (The Thirteenth Sister)

Uqin has a large repertoire, among which representative works are those adapted from historical stories — Wang Guo Uqin, The Song of Yingying, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Thirteenth Sister and Journey to the West — together with The Four Seasons, which reflects productive labour, The Song of the Barracks, which reflects social life, and Shaolang and Daifu, which depicts the struggle against oppression.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Elingqiao was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing, with Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Daur Wuqin Narrative Singing in Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia as its declared area, and Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner Cultural Center (Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner 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

Uqin was originally narrative poetry composed in Manchu and recited in a chanting style; in the Qing dynasty Daur literati used it to record campaigns, garrison farming and village affairs, and later folk artists began rendering these manuscripts aloud as spoken-and-sung performance, so that 'uqin' came to change from the name of a literary form into the name of a genre. The Nen River basin is its main area of transmission, and it is also current in Morin Dawa, Qiqihar, Fularji, Fuyu and Longjiang, as well as among the Daur settlements of Tacheng in Xinjiang.

Declared area
Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia
Safeguarding unit
Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner Cultural Center (Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center)
Inscription batch
Batch 2 (2008)
Item code
Ⅴ-41
Category
Quyi (Narrative Performing Arts)

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.

BearerDeclared areaRoster codeRelation
SereHeilongjiang02-0766Other regional school
NayintaiHeilongjiang02-0767Other regional school
TumureMolidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia05-2499Same declared area
TaoguishuiHeilongjiang05-2500Other regional school
ElingqiaoMolidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia—This page

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

  1. Elingqiao (Molidawadawoerzuzizhiqi, Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Elingqiao · China ICH Official Archive

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。