Tongyao
01 · Historical Records
Children's rhymes have a history of a thousand years in China, and the officially compiled histories and miscellaneous biographies, notebooks and novels of successive dynasties abound in records of them. The origin and evolution of Minnan children's rhymes have no detailed written record, but judging from Fujian local classics, the Tang folk children's rhyme Moonlight Bright and the rhyme of the same name current in various parts of Minnan today, though differing in wording, are very similar in theme and structure, so that Minnan children's rhymes had already appeared by the Tang. After the mid-Ming, as the people of Minnan crossed in great numbers to Taiwan and went to the South Seas, the Minnan children's rhymes spread with them to Taiwan and the South Seas.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Children's rhymes mean the songs without musical notation sung by children, a kind of folk song of special significance recited and spread by a special group and current throughout the country. Children's rhymes hold a deposit of excellent national culture and contain rich educational content. By form of performance they may be divided into chanting rhymes, sung rhymes, play rhymes and dance rhymes. Minnan children's rhymes are a rich treasure house of knowledge and one of the important means of helping children learn language and understand society and life.
Moonlight Bright
A Minnan children's rhyme that appeared as early as the Tang and is current to this day.
Beating Japan
A representative current-affairs Minnan children's rhyme.
Gathering Round the Stove at New Year
A representative custom-themed Minnan children's rhyme.
Copper Nails into a Copper Plate
A representative tongue-twister Minnan children's rhyme.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Minnan children's rhymes are children's songs created and sung in the Minnan dialect, current in Minnan, the Taiwan region and the places where overseas Chinese of Minnan descent live; created by the people of Minnan through the ages according to children's comprehension and psychology with the complex and musically beautiful rhyme and tonal rhythm of the Minnan dialect and continually revised and supplemented in the course of singing, they are a form of folk literature. By content they may be divided into such kinds as current affairs, child-rearing, games, animals, plants, knowledge, custom and fun; by form into lullabies, narrative form, question-and-answer songs, chain tunes, riddles and tongue-twisters.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tongyao · Tongyao · Tongyao.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Children's rhymes have mainly two modes of transmission, written and oral; their language is simple and easy to understand and their content plain and natural, and they are an excellent representative of folk literature and art. Under the impact of modern culture and the loss of dialect, Minnan children's rhymes are gradually moving away from children and young people, and vigorous measures must be taken to do well the work of salvaging and protecting them.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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