Hezhen Yimakan Storytelling
01 · Historical Records
According to the material available, the form had already taken shape no later than the late Qing dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hezhen Yimakan is a storytelling form of quyi among the Hezhen people, current in the Hezhen settlements of Heilongjiang Province. The performance is given by a single performer who narrates orally without instruments, combining speech and song; broadly it leans on speech, with song in support, and there is no instrumental accompaniment. Traditional items include long, medium and short pieces, and representative works are Shierdalu Mergen, Mangemu Mergen, Muzhulin Mergen, The Flight of Yingtu Gege to the Moon, Yaregou, Xiregou and others. The item types and performing styles of Yimakan are divided into "great chant" and "small chant". "Great chant", that is "great Yimakan chant", refers to speech-led performance, concentrating on and excelling in heroic and legendary subject matter, such as the various "Mergen (hero)" stories and the Hezhen creation legends; "small chant", that is "small Yimakan chant", refers to song-led performance, concentrating on and excelling in lyrical subject matter in short items. The vocal music of Yimakan has marked ethnic characteristics, and because it varies with the place where it is current and with the performer, the vocal styles and melodies used also differ; common melodies include Henina, Sulile, Susu, the joyful tune, the sorrowful tune and the Lower River fishing tune.
Great chant and small chant
Great chant is speech-led and heroic, small chant is song-led and lyrical.
Characteristic melodies
Its melodies include the Henina, Sulile, Susu, joyful, sorrowful and river-fishing tunes.
Hero tales of the Hezhen
Representative items include the Mergen hero tales and The Flight of Yingtu Gege to the Moon.
Unaccompanied narration
A single performer alternates speech and song without any instrument, shifting characters through voice alone.
Wu Mingxin and Wu Baochen
Two national inheritors: Wu Mingxin of Jiamusi and Wu Baochen of Tongjiang, honoured at the China Art Festival in 1992.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yimakan is mainly sung in the fishing and hunting villages where the Hezhen live, such as Jiekou in Tongjiang, and its vocal styles differ according to locality and performer: among the common Henina, Sulile, Susu, joyful, sorrowful and Lower River fishing tunes, the Lower River fishing tune is directly bound up with the Hezhen life of fishing and boating on the river, its vocal line relaxed and close to a boatman's song. Yimakan is mostly sung and spoken during the rests between fishing and hunting, at festivals, and at gatherings such as the Hezhen Wurigong assembly, and all of it is sung and spoken in the Hezhen language.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yimakan is an art category and a form of entertainment and aesthetic enjoyment that the Hezhen people cannot do without in their daily life; at the same time it serves as a "textbook" for handing down the history and culture of the ethnic group, so its value is distinctive and its significance great. Wu Mingxin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A man of the Hezhen nationality, born in 1937 in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang. He formerly worked as a baggage agent at the railway baggage office of Jiamusi station. He has been reported on by China Central Television and a number of other news media. Representative works include The Beautiful Girl, Hezhen Mergen and The Forgotten Sandbar. Representative inheritor of Hezhen Yimakan of the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Wu Baochen (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A man of the Hezhen nationality, born in 1960 in Tongjiang, Heilongjiang. A retired cadre of the Jiekou Hezhen Township government in Tongjiang City. Over the years he has made an outstanding contribution to inheriting and developing Hezhen traditional culture and to handing on the endangered art of Yimakan storytelling. Representative inheritor of Hezhen Yimakan of the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. In 1992 he received an honorary prize at the Third China Art Festival; in 1998 he won a singing prize at the Heilongjiang folk singer competition; in 2001 he received a special prize at the Sixth Hezhen Wurigong assembly of China.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Mingxin 02-0768
- Wu Baochen 02-0769
- Ge Yuxia
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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