Xingshan Folk Songs

01 · Historical Records

Xingshan county belonged to Nan commandery in the Han; in the third year of the Yong'an reign of Emperor Jing of Wu of the Three Kingdoms, 260, Xingshan was set up out of the northern border of Zigui, and the county name is still in use today. Xingshan folk songs have a long history and a rich store, and some scholars in Chinese musicology identify them as a survival of the “ancient songs of Jing-Chu”; the corroboration of their distinctive scale structure may be found in the chime bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng and especially in the pitch-row structure of the Shang and Zhou bronze bells and chimes unearthed in this region.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xingshan county belonged to Nan commandery in the Han; in the third year of the Yong'an reign of Emperor Jing of Wu of the Three Kingdoms, 260, Xingshan was set up out of the northern border of Zigui. Xingshan lies on the outlying range of the Daba mountains, on the northern side of the Xiling gorge of the Yangtze, bordering Yichang city and Baokang county to the east, Zigui county to the south, the Shennongjia forest region to the north and Badong county to the west. Xingshan folk songs have a long history and a rich store, and some scholars in Chinese musicology identify them as a survival of the “ancient songs of Jing-Chu”. Their pitch is peculiar and often leads people trained in modern music to suppose them “out of tune”. In fact their scale structure contains an interval between the major and minor third, named the “Xingshan third interval”. The structural relations of the only two three-note modes in Xingshan are as follows: rising do–mi–sol, descending la–do(flat)–re, at 350±15 and 300±15, and 350±15 and 180±15. Their pentatonic scale is built upon these and is also called the “Xingshan scale”: (rising fa) descending sol, (descending) la, do, (descending) re, mi, sol. This distinctive scale proves that in Jing-Chu musical culture there existed an oral tradition consonant with the temperament discovered in archaeological instruments. The common pieces of Xingshan folk songs include Conquering the East, Conquering the West, Xue Gang Rebels against the Tang, Ten Partings, Ten Longings and the Five Watches.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xingshan folk songs are distributed in the various townships of Xingshan county and the surrounding areas to its east, south and north. This view may be corroborated by the chime bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng and especially by the pitch-row structure of the Shang and Zhou bronze bells and chimes unearthed in this region at Changyang county.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Because of the rapid changes in society, fewer and fewer people can sing Xingshan folk songs today, and if they are not vigorously saved and protected this distinctive song kind will face the danger of being lost. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Chen Jiazhen, female, Han, born 1935, a native of Xingshan, Hubei. After taking part in the first Xingshan county “mountain-song fair” in 1981 she became famous for a time and brought Xingshan folk songs to people's notice. With more than sixty years in the art she is praised as the “Queen of Songs of the Three Gorges”. Her voice is sweet, her production round and her feeling rich; her representative works include My Lover Comes with an Umbrella on the High Mountain and Singing Zhaojun Back to Her Home Village. She is a representative bearer of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, Xingshan folk songs. In 2002 she was awarded the title of one of the first batch of “outstanding folk artists of Yichang city”, in 2003 the title of “cultural centre household of Yichang city”, and in 2006 “one of the ten outstanding folk artists of Xingshan county”. Peng Side, male, Han, born September 1931, a native of Xingshan county, Hubei. At nine he learned from his father Peng Zuguan the arts of singing Xingshan folk songs and the weeding gong-and-drum, being a “family apprentice” directly taught by an elder. His singing is rich in vocal styles and wide in subject, and he is especially good at the “great turning over”, also called the slow voice, of the weeding gong-and-drum; he is a locally famous song master combining the arts of drumming, reciting and singing, and the people's verdict on him is that “he can sing for three days and three nights without repeating a line”. He was once invited by the China Conservatory of Music to take part in a Chinese traditional music festival. He is a representative bearer of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, Xingshan folk songs. In 2007 he took the lead in forming the Juping village folk culture association, carrying out transmission work for Xingshan folk songs and teaching eleven apprentices one after another.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Chen Jiazhen 02-0234
• Peng Side 03-0813
• Wan Huizhi

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Xingshan Folk Songs (Xingshan, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Chen Jiazhen · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Peng Side · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗