Hua'er
01 · Historical Records
Research holds that the Qutan temple flower fair began with the temple fair opened at Qutan temple in the Daoguang reign of the Qing and gradually developed into a flower fair of a certain scale by the late Qing and early Republic.
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”. The Qutan temple flower fair is also the local temple fair, lasting three days, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth of the sixth lunar month. The Qutan temple flower fair of Ledu county is on a relatively large scale and of profound influence among the flower fairs of Qinghai. The participants in the Qutan temple flower fair are mainly Han, with other ethnic groups taking part eagerly. In addition the “layi” loved by the Tibetan people is also widely sung here. The forms of singing are solo, antiphonal and linked singing, among which what best embodies the folk character of the Qutan temple flower fair is the antiphonal singing of two camps.
The Nianbo Tune, the White Peony Tune, the Little Horse Tune and Other Tunes
The local and incoming tunes sung at the Qutan temple flower fair.
Antiphonal Singing of Two Camps
The form of singing that best embodies the folk character of the Qutan temple flower fair.
Singing of the Tibetan “Layi”
The song kind loved and widely sung by the Tibetan people at the Qutan temple flower fair.
The Temple Fair from the 14th to the 16th of the Sixth Lunar Month
The Qutan temple flower fair, which is also the local temple fair, lasting three days.
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”. The Qutan temple flower fair is the largest stage for the local people to exchange hua'er, and many folk hua'er singers have gone from here to the whole province and even to the north-west. In the tunes sung, besides the local Nianbo Tune, there are also the White Peony Tune, the Little Horse Tune, the Water-Red Flower Tune and the Three-Flash Tune. As an influential flower fair, the Qutan temple fair performs many practical functions locally, such as promoting the exchange of folk goods, strengthening cultural exchange among different ethnic groups and enriching the people's life.
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 Qutan temple flower fair also has deep ethnic and folk cultural deposits and is of important value for the study of the formation of flower fairs. Ledu county is a famous “cultural county” of the He-Huang region, and the Qutan temple flower fair has therefore become the best typical case for the study of the relation between large-scale folk activities and local cultural development. (Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Wang Cunfu, male, Han, born 1952, a native of Ledu, Qinghai. He can sing more than thirty hua'er tunes with skill and has composed more than fifty sets of hua'er lyrics, and is familiar with all the local hua'er. He is at present a skilled worker in the Qinghai foundry. His representative works include the Great Hezhou Tune. He is a representative bearer of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Qutan temple flower fair), and has taken part in the north-west five-province hua'er singers' contest, winning the best singer award.
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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