Biashilaze Legend
01 · Historical Records
The Biashilaze legend arose in the Liangshan Yi region and is closely bound up with the Yi bimo priestly tradition. Biashilaze is said to have belonged to the Alu sub-branch of the Qunie tribe; his life and deeds were continually deified and added to by later bimo priests and the people, so that he gradually evolved from a historical figure into a legendary culture hero. Jinyang county was one of his important areas of activity, and the legend is widely current in the four towns and thirty townships of the county.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Biashilaze legend is a folk legend about Biashilaze, a figure known to every household among the Yi of Liangshan, and is current mainly in the greater and lesser Liangshan of Sichuan and Yunnan and in some Yi areas of Yunnan. Jinyang county of the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan is said to be one of Biashilaze's important areas of activity, and the legend is therefore widely current and profoundly influential in the four towns and thirty townships of Jinyang. Biashilaze is said to have been a man of the Alu sub-branch of the Qunie tribe of the Liangshan Yi. Gifted and exceptionally wise from childhood, he could recite a thousand volumes of scripture and was versed in medicine and in the various rituals of folk belief. There is even a folk legend that the Yi script was his invention. In the areas of long-standing Yi settlement in the greater and lesser Liangshan of Sichuan and Yunnan his traces survive, and many place names, natural features and legendary stories connected with him circulate. The legend has two forms of expression: one a prose narrative form, mostly told in plain speech, and one a poetic narrative form, mostly chanted on occasions of collective gathering. From village to village the Biashilaze legend shows similarity of overall description together with difference of local detail.
Biashilaze Sorts and Standardizes the Yi Script
The classic story that the Yi script was sorted and standardized by Biashilaze.
Taking His Daughter Shixi to Rid the People of Demons
The legend of Biashilaze and his daughter Shixi ridding the people of harm.
Matching Wits with the Azhi'emo Tusi
The amusing stories of Biashilaze pitting his wit and courage against the tusi.
The Bimo Chanting Contests and Ritual Transmission
The legend of the bimo masters' scripture-chanting contest and the gift of a golden scripture tube, and the occasions of ritual chanting that transmit the tradition.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Biashilaze legend has its core area of circulation in Jinyang county of the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan, and radiates to the various Yi areas of settlement in the greater and lesser Liangshan of Sichuan and Yunnan. The legends of different villages tend to agree in their overall narrative while differing in local detail, forming a pattern in which clan transmission and regional spread run side by side; Yi bimo priestly families mostly revere him as their founder and continue this tradition through ritual chanting and oral telling.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
He sorted out the religious scriptures, drove out ghosts and averted calamity, cured disease and expelled plague, prayed for the health of people and livestock and abundant harvests, and preached a devout and just faith. The Biashilaze legend includes the stories of Biashilaze sorting and standardizing the Yi script, of his taking his daughter Shixi to rid the people of demons and harm, and of Gechu, son of Biashilaze, writing scriptures with the blood spat out by a divine bird; it has both the amusing tales of Biashilaze matching wits with the Azhi'emo tusi and the marvellous legends that “when he breathed there was wind, when he blinked there was rain, when he raised his hand there was thunder, when he set down his foot there was earthquake” and that “in a day he cursed a mountain and it crashed down, in a day he restored the mountain and it stood towering”, as well as the legend that he and the contemporaneous bimo masters Age Shuozhu and Ake E'e took part together in a scripture-chanting contest and received the great gift of a golden scripture tube, a ritual implement. The Biashilaze legend is a record and reflection of the historical development of Yi society and is known to every household and every woman and child among the Yi of Jinyang county, handed down from generation to generation mainly through clan transmission. Biashilaze is a legendary figure familiar throughout Yi society, and the legend vividly restores the historical memory and the scenes of production, life and religion of the Yi people, shaping many typical figures and reflecting the pursuit of the values of truth, goodness and beauty; it has a relatively broad popular base and a rich local and ethnic colour, and a social-cultural value that cannot be underestimated.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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