Yao Shuagetang
01 · Historical Records
During the Cultural Revolution, Shua Ge Tang was proscribed; it was not until the late 1980s that it began to recover in an initial form.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Qingyuan City, in the northwestern part of the mountainous region of northern Guangdong, is the only settled area of the Pai Yao in China, and it is also the region where Shua Ge Tang is transmitted. Shua Ge Tang (the song-hall festival) is a large-scale cultural activity of the Yao people, mainly popular among the Pai Yao villages of six townships: Sanpai (including Nangang), Woshui, Daping, Xiangping (including Panshi), and Sanjiang (including Jinkeng). Its concrete forms of expression include ancestor worship, going out to the song hall, the Guozhou dance, the long-drum dance, the singing of and antiphonal response in Yao songs, Fazhen ritual performances, and the chasing and beating of the black-faced figure. According to historical records, during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368-1398), at the height of the Pai Yao, Shua Ge Tang already existed in complete form, giving it a history of more than six hundred years down to the present. Shua Ge Tang is a folk grand festival that combines the Liannan Pai Yao's commemoration of ancestors, remembrance of history, celebration of the harvest, fulfillment of vows, dissemination of knowledge, and mass entertainment. A grand song hall lasts three days and is held once every three or five years; a small song hall lasts one day and is held once every two or three years. The festival date falls on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the birthday of Pangu Wangpo. In addition, the exquisite headdresses and accessories worn by Yao participants during Shua Ge Tang, the brilliant costumes, the distinctive long-drum dance and Shiyi dance, and the folk musical instruments used — ox horns, bronze gongs, suona, mangdi flutes, wuyuexiao flutes, and long flutes — all possess a strong ethnic artistic style and high artistic value.
The fair on the birthday of Pangu Wangpo
Every song hall opens on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the birthday of Pangu's grandmother, ancestor rites included.
The two-tier system of great and small song halls
Great halls run three days every three or five years; small halls last a single day on a shorter cycle.
Leaving the song hall and the state-crossing dance
Leaving the hall for the villages and the state-crossing dance along the way turned the hall grounds into a moving procession.
Long drum dance and master dance
The long drum dance and the shaman-figured master dance, with ornate headdress and dress, carry the hall's most distinctive ethnic style.
Chasing the black-faced man
The hall often closes with a chase after a black-faced figure, leaving the note of punishment and justice inside the revelry.
Hall songs and the chanting of Yao scriptures
Hall, ancient, labour, custom and love songs double as Yao scripture; Tang Maishengong, dubbed the song king of Liannan, learned them from village elders.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Pai Yao have no writing system of their own; their history is transmitted orally and their beliefs are all carried in song, so the distribution of Shua Ge Tang coincides exactly with the distribution of the Pai Yao villages. Liannan Yao Autonomous County, in the northwestern part of the mountainous region of northern Guangdong, is the only settled area of the Pai Yao in China, and Shua Ge Tang is mainly distributed across six townships at relatively high altitude with terraced fields layered one above another: Sanpai (including Nangang), Woshui, Daping, Xiangping (including Panshi), and Sanjiang (including Jinkeng). These townships adjoin one another, and one can travel from village to village within a day, so grand song halls and small song halls can be held in staggered sessions without the crowds dispersing. The festival date is uniformly fixed on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month, the birthday of Pangu Wangpo; the grand song halls held every three or five years and the small song halls held every two or three years share this day, differing only in scale. Within this region, the ritual procedures of the various villages are broadly similar, but the drum rhythms and formations of the long-drum dance and the Shiyi dance, as well as the instrumentation using ox horns, bronze gongs, suona, mangdi flutes, wuyuexiao flutes, and long flutes, each still retain their own distinct line of transmission.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since the Pai Yao have no writing system of their own, Shua Ge Tang has become an important vehicle for cultural exchange and the transmission of history. The Yao scriptures recited at Shua Ge Tang provide strong evidence for the origins of the Pai Yao lineage, and offer abundant material for determining the period when the branches of the Yao were fixed in form, as well as for the study of Pai Yao folk beliefs and the creation of Yao scriptures. In addition, the Yao scriptures reflect the warfare of ancient Lingnan and possess high historical research value in ethnology, sociology, and folklore. Tang Maishegong (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Yao ethnicity, born in 1944, from Qingyuan, Guangdong. Beginning in 1978, he learned Yao songs from Tang Dakao, an elder of his own village. He excels at singing song-hall songs, ancient songs, labor songs, custom songs, and love songs. His singing is delivered in a high, ringing register; his style is warm and unrestrained, open and brisk, earning him the reputation of "Song King of the Liannan Yao." His four children have all inherited his musical talent and likewise take part in Shua Ge Tang performances. He is a representative inheritor of Yao Shua Ge Tang, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage of the second batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tang Maishegong 02-0776
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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