Hua'er
01 · Historical Records
The Qili temple flower fair originated in the Qili temple area of Gushan town in the Minhe Hui and Tu autonomous county of Qinghai. Judging from oral tradition and historical materials its formation is connected with the cult of the medicinal spring in the Qili temple gorge and with the temple fair activities; it has been held locally for at least a hundred years and has gradually become a hua'er gathering of considerable influence in Minhe and in the He-Huang region.
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 Qili temple gorge lies at the foot of the Lesser Jishi mountains within Gushan town, south of the Minhe Hui and Tu autonomous county. The flower fair held here has a history of at least a hundred years. On the sixth day of the sixth lunar month each year the people of all quarters come in their best clothes with umbrellas, and sixty or seventy thousand gather in the gorge, singing hua'er antiphonally all night long. The Qili temple flower fair is a folk cultural pageant spontaneously organized by the people, and the singers are all folk singers. The forms of singing are solo, antiphonal and choral, with no instrumental accompaniment at all; the content sung is mostly love songs. The singer generally covers one ear lightly with one hand and uses different “tunes” according to the content; the tunes sung reach more than forty kinds, representative pieces being the Gushan Tune, the Maying Tune and the Two Plum Blossoms Tune. There are many singers at the Qili temple flower fair: besides famous “hua'er” singers attending, those of the surrounding areas who can sing hua'er also often come to add to the fun, and many tunes sung by the old singers are hard to hear at ordinary times or at other “flower fairs”.
The Gushan Tune
One of the representative tunes of the Qili temple flower fair.
The Maying Tune
One of the representative tunes of the Qili temple flower fair.
The Two Plum Blossoms Tune
One of the representative tunes of the Qili temple flower fair.
More Than Forty Kinds of Tune
The tunes sung at the Qili temple flower fair, reaching more than forty kinds.
Singing with One Hand Covering the Ear
The singing habit in which the singer lightly covers one ear with one hand and chooses different “tunes” according to the content.
Solo, Antiphonal and Choral Singing with No Instrumental Accompaniment
The forms of singing, spontaneously organized by the people, whose singers are all folk singers.
Antiphonal Singing in the Gorge on the 6th of the Sixth Lunar Month
The fair on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month each year, when sixty or seventy thousand gather in the gorge and sing hua'er antiphonally all night long.
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”. Because of its strong local character, together with the attraction of the medicinal spring in the gorge, the Qili temple flower fair enjoys considerable renown in the north-west.
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
(Associated bearer recorded in the official archive:) Zhao Cunlu, male, Dongxiang, born 1930, a native of Minhe, Qinghai, vice-chairman of the Qinghai provincial federation of literary and art circles. He is a representative bearer of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Qili temple flower fair). From childhood he learned from the older generation of hua'er singers Li Hesheng, Zhao Caisheng and others, and also sang with people of his own generation; later he collected, sorted and accumulated hua'er material, published such books as Selected Maying Hua'er, Selected New Hua'er and A Collection of Minhe Ballads, and trained folk singers and carried out transmission activities, having now six apprentices including Xu Xiufu. Zhang Yingzhi, female, Tu, born 1947, a native of Minhe, Qinghai. She loved singing folk songs from childhood, learned Tu folk songs and mastered a certain singing technique, and excels in hua'er of the various tunes and in Tu, Han and Bao'an banquet songs and folk short tunes. Her voice is powerful, her articulation clear, her pronunciation round, and she composes and sings on the spot, improvising in good time. She is a representative bearer of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items, hua'er (the Qili temple flower fair), has many times taken part in local performances and contests, winning prizes repeatedly, and engages in hua'er teaching work, coaching many singers including La Fu.
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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