Manchu Narrative Lore
01 · Historical Records
Some of the ulabun have been translated and published in Russian, Japanese, English, Italian, German and Korean, enriching the treasure house of world culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Changbai mountains in south-eastern Jilin are the birthplace of the Manchu, whose forebears multiplied and lived since ancient times on this vast, beautiful and marvellous fertile land. The Manchu ulabun is an ancient long narrative-singing folk art handed down by word of mouth among the Manchu and their forebears, called in Manchu ulabun, translated into Chinese as tale or biography. Its form and content differ greatly from the hearing of ordinary folk tales: it was usually recited by the elders of the clan after rinsing the mouth and burning incense, often with bells, drums and clappers, mingling narration and song, its purpose being to tell the roots, honour the ancestors and praise the heroes, the listeners modest and orderly and especially reverent. The Manchu ulabun is rooted in the custom of telling the old among the Manchu and their forebears, and tracing its source it comes from the Manchu clans' worship of the heroes of former generations. The Manchu sang and told ulabun mainly by word of mouth within the clan, inherited from generation to generation. In the early period it was mostly sung in Manchu; after the mid-Qing, as Manchu declined, it changed to being told and sung in Chinese with some Manchu mixed in. The Manchu ulabun has a solemn style and a magnificent sweep, embracing the rise of clans and tribes, ancient wilderness sacrifices, pioneering and enterprise, heroic history, national custom and knowledge of production and life, and is called the encyclopaedia of the northern peoples.
The Life of Lord Sa
A representative work of the Manchu ulabun, on the deeds of General Sabusu.
The Record of Grievances in the East Sea
A representative work of the Manchu ulabun.
Mother Wubuxiben
One of the representative works of the wocheku ulabun, the stories on the shrine.
The Great Battle in the Heavenly Palace
A representative shamanist myth among the wocheku ulabun.
The Girl in Red Silk
A representative work of the baturu ulabun, the heroic tales, fairly widely current.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Manchu ulabun circulates mainly in the Manchu-concentrated areas of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning, and is most concentrated in the clan transmission of the Manchu along the Songhua river and the Changbai mountains in Jilin; the ulabun of the various clans differ from one another in content and together form the transmission lineage of the Manchu ulabun.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Manchu Narrative Lore.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The ulabun is the memory of the history of the Manchu and their forebears; some of the historical content it mentions is little known, and some makes up the deficiency of the historical records of northern China, so that it is precious material for the study of national history, territorial history, the history of ethnic relations and anthropology, sociology and folklore. The Manchu ulabun is rich in content, but its tellers and transmitters are mostly special groups and are now few in number, so that salvage protection is urgent. In recent years the Manchu ulabun has been listed as a research project of the Academy of Social Sciences and a national pilot project of the China National Folk Culture Protection Project; more than ten have been collected and recorded and have passed expert demonstration as interim results. But many ulabun remain unrecorded and the task of salvage and protection is very heavy.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Fu Yuguang 04-1489
- Zhao Dongsheng 05-1990
- Heshihuan
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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