Hua'er
01 · Historical Records
In the 1960s and 1970s the singing of hua'er was banned; after reform and opening up there was again a scene of flourishing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It is sung on two main kinds of occasion: daily production and life, and the “flower fair”. The “flower fair” is a large folk song gathering, also called “singing the mountain”. Lianhua mountain lies in the south-west of Kangle county, Gansu, and the flower fair is an annual folk-song gathering spontaneously organized by the people of the Lianhua mountain area, radiating to seventy-eight fair sites in six counties of three prefectures. Such folk songs were already flourishing three hundred years ago. The Lianhua mountain flower fair is distinctive in form, grand in scale and complete in procedure, divided into the stages of blocking the road, roaming the mountain, antiphonal singing, toasting and farewell; the main fair runs six days, from the first to the sixth of the sixth lunar month, passing Tangfang Tan, the ascent, the descent, Zuguchuan, Wangjiagou Gate and Zisong mountain, with more than a hundred thousand participants. The Lianhua mountain hua'er is most characterized by the improvisation of its composition, the fixity of its metre and the rusticity of its language, and is commonly called the “wild flower”. Representative tunes include the Lianhua Mountain Tune. Because of its distinctive, folk, dependent, procedural, collective, entertaining and popular character it has been praised by scholars at home and abroad as the “soul of the north-west” and the “encyclopedia of the north-west”.
Blocking the Road, Roaming the Mountain, Antiphonal Singing, Toasting and Farewell
The distinctive and procedurally complete course of the Lianhua mountain flower fair.
Tunes such as the Lianhua Mountain Tune
The representative tunes of the Lianhua mountain hua'er.
The Improvised Composition of the “Wild Flower”
The chief features of improvisation in composition, fixity of metre and rusticity of language.
The Main Fair from the 1st to the 6th of the Sixth Lunar Month
The six-day fair passing Tangfang Tan, the ascent, the descent and Zuguchuan, with more than a hundred thousand participants.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hua'er is a mountain-song kind widely current among the eight ethnic groups—Hui, Han, Tu, Dongxiang, Bao'an, Salar, Tibetan and Yugur—of the four provinces and regions of Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. It is always sung in the local Chinese dialect and may be sung only outside the villages and stockades; it is commonly called a “wild song” (as opposed to the “home song”, that is, the banquet song) and is also known as the “youth”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er · Hua'er.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Lianhua mountain hua'er is transmitted mainly by word of mouth and personal instruction, its representative singers including chiefly Jing Mantang, Ding Rulan, Zhang Shengcai, Zhu Shuxiu, Mi Zhaoren and Wang Lianlian. But in recent years the scale of the flower fair has gradually shrunk and the number of hua'er singers has dropped sharply, with transmission broken and successors lacking, so rescue is urgently needed. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Wang Lianlian, female, Han, born February 1958, a native of Kangle county, Gansu. Growing up at the foot of Lianhua mountain and nurtured by the art of the Lianhua mountain “hua'er”, she can compose and sing. By her steadfast love of hua'er she overcame her lack of basic musical knowledge and the difficulties of playing and blending with a band and of performance, brought hua'er into a new era, and became a veritable folk “hua'er queen”. Each year she takes part in various hua'er contests and sings at the various hua'er sites. She is a representative bearer of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Lianhua mountain flower fair), and has many times won prizes in singing contests at national, provincial and municipal level.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ma Jinshan 02-0241
- Ma Delin 02-0242
- Ma Mingshan 02-0243
- Zhao Cunlu 02-0244
- Zhang Yingzhi 02-0245
- Wang Cunfu 02-0246
- Ma Shenglin 02-0247
- Wang Lianlian 03-0819
- Liu Guocheng 03-0820
- Zhang Mingxing 03-0821
- Han Shengyuan 03-0822
- Su Ping 05-2040
- Li Guiying 05-2041
- Wang Deqin 05-2042
- Ma Handong 05-2043
- Wang Xiufang 05-2044
- Song Baoyuan
- Zhang Jianjun
- Wen Xianglian
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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