Ya Folk Songs
01 · Historical Records
The Ya folk songs grew, evolved and were enriched continuously from the Han dynasty and reached their height in the Qing, when great numbers of long song-books appeared; more than seventy have been collected so far, amounting to about two million seven hundred thousand characters. Among them the more than twenty long lyrical great songs, commonly called the “great court songs”, such as The Song of the Poor Family's Weaver Girl, The Song of Zhang Sheng and The Song of Liang Sheng, are the treasure of the Ya folk songs and circulate widely locally. When Buddhism entered Hainan in the Tang a Dayun temple was built in ancient Yazhou, present-day Yacheng town in Sanya city.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Ya folk songs are rich in content and wide in subject, touching on every field from humanistic history and natural scenery to productive labour and social life. Their words and music are fine; the tunes include mainly the loud-pull tune, the tender tune, the sighing tune, the great-court tune and the cradle tune, and the lyrics are mostly in seven-character lines and make good use of such artistic means as exposition, comparison and evocation. Yazhou was historically a place of exile for high officials and famous ministers; among the famous ministers exiled to Yazhou in the Tang and Song there were more than ten, including Wei Zhiyi, Ding Wei, Lu Duoxun, Zhao Ding and Hu Quan. In their places of exile they devoted themselves to spreading Central Plains culture, and under this influence the Ya folk songs plainly bear the brand of Tang poetry and Song ci. Besides this the Ya folk songs also bear clear traces of the Buddhist “vegetarian song”. The sighing tune of the Ya folk songs comes from the “vegetarian song” and must have some connection with the chanting and intoning in the temple. Since reform and opening up the tide of modernization has ceaselessly buffeted Hainan, whose economy is developing rapidly.
The Long Lyrical Great Songs (Great Court Songs)
The treasure of the Ya folk songs—more than twenty pieces including The Song of the Poor Family's Weaver Girl, The Song of Zhang Sheng and The Song of Liang Sheng.
The Loud-Pull Tune, the Tender Tune, the Sighing Tune, the Great-Court Tune and the Cradle Tune
The main system of tunes of the Ya folk songs.
The Sighing Tune and the Temple “Vegetarian Song”
The influence of the chanting and intoning at the Dayun temple of the Tang on the sighing tune of the Ya folk songs.
Nightly Antiphonal Singing in the Villages of Leluo and Huangliu
The occasions of singing in the Leluo and Huangliu area of Ledong, transmitted by word of mouth and personal instruction from generation to generation.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The birthplace of the Ya folk songs lies mainly in the villages of the Leluo and Huangliu area of ancient Yazhou—present-day Leluo and Huangliu towns of the Ledong Li autonomous county—radiating to Sanya, Lingshui and other places along the south Qiong coast.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ya Folk Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Ya folk songs also have important historical value; they have a long history and reflect many aspects of Yazhou's past. Under these circumstances the Ya folk songs find it hard to contend with the surging popular music, and if they are not saved and protected in time they will disappear with the departure of their bearers.
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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