Duxiuying

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Duxiuying, Female, Yugur, from Sunanyuguzuzizhi, Gansu, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Yugur Folk Songs (Ⅱ-19). The tradition is documented in Sunanyuguzuzizhi, Gansu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yugur Folk Songs in Sunanyuguzuzizhi, Gansu: The Yugur folk songs circulate mainly in the Yugur areas of settlement of Minghua, Dahe, Kangle and Huangcheng townships of the Sunan Yugur autonomous county in Gansu and the Huangnibao area of Jiuquan, and extend with the pastoral production and life of the Yugur to the grassland pastures at the northern foot of the Qilian mountains. The formation of the Yugur folk songs is closely bound up with the history and language of the Yugur. The Yugur forebears may be traced to the Uighurs of the Tang and Song periods; their language belongs to two branches, the “Yaohur” language of the Turkic group of the Altaic family and the “Anger” language of the Mongolian group, so their folk songs share an origin with Uighur and Mongolian folk songs, their lyric metres are similar, and they preserve many common features of ancient languages.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Yugur, born in October 1940, whose Yugur name is Qumutar, a native of Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province. From 1947 she learned the Western Yugur song Sarimak from her parents, and later learned other Eastern and Western Yugur folk songs and such wedding songs as the Song of Marriage. She can sing folk songs fluently in both the Eastern and Western Yugur languages, with a flavour all her own. She takes an active part in traditional folk customs and has collected, collated and studied Yugur history, culture and folk songs, recording a large body of primary material; her representative pieces include Sarimak and Jet-black Steed. Within the documented technical tradition of Yugur Folk Songs in Sunanyuguzuzizhi, Gansu: The Sunan Yugur autonomous county lies in the middle of the Hexi corridor, at the northern foot of the Qilian mountains. The Yugur use two languages: one called “Yaohur”, belonging to the Turkic group of the Altaic family and closely related to Uighur and Kazakh of the same group; the other called “Anger”, closely related to Mongolian of the same group. Judging from the historical origins and language of the Yugur, their folk songs share the same origin as Uighur and Mongolian folk songs, their lyric metres have many similarities, and they also have many features common to ancient languages. The Yugur folk songs may be divided by subject into narrative songs, love songs and work songs, and by genre and function into short pieces, work chanteys, short tunes, banquet songs, wine songs, felt-rolling songs and songs for suckling the young of the herds. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Narrative Songs, Love Songs and Work Songs": The categories of Yugur folk songs divided by subject matter. "The Felt-Rolling Song and the Song for Suckling the Young of the Herds": Song kinds directly connected with pastoral productive labour. "Banquet Songs and Wine Songs": The ceremonial song kinds of the Yugur divided by genre and function. "Sarimak and The Song of Going Out to Be Married": The western Yugur-language folk songs and wedding songs that bearers such as Du Xiulan and Du Xiuying can sing in full.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Yugur Folk Songs, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She has trained several bearers for the Yugur folk song project.

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. Duxiuying · National Representative Bearer Archive