Zhuang Gewei
01 · Historical Records
The song fair originated in the ceremonial song-and-dance activities of clan and tribal times. As society developed, these primitive ritual group songs and dances passed from entertaining the gods to entertaining people, and evolved from the dance-oriented toward the song-oriented, giving rise to the collective responsive singing activities of the song fair.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The song fair (gewu) is a form of festive gathering and singing activity held by the Zhuang people at a set time and place; in the Zhuang language it is called xuhuan, xufeng, longdong, wopo, and so on. All of the larger Zhuang settlement areas have song fairs, and they are held mainly in spring and autumn. Spring song fairs are at their height between the third and fourth lunar months, with the greatest number held on the third day of the third lunar month; autumn song fairs concentrate in the eighth and ninth lunar months, with the Mid-Autumn Festival the best date of all. The locations of song fairs vary from place to place, but each song fair is generally held at a relatively fixed spot. With their special symbolism and power of cohesion, song fairs have an influence on every member and every family of the Zhuang people. The core content of the song fair is courtship among young men and women — that is, choosing a partner through song, and competing in and appreciating song — together with drama, quyi performance, sport, and other cultural entertainment activities. The song fair also provides the general public, and especially the young, with a place to learn mountain songs and display their singing talent, satisfying their psychological need to esteem mountain songs and think in poetry. As the pace of modernization quickens, traditional ethnic folk culture has come under severe impact, and song fair activities have gradually decreased. Many song fairs have died out because, once the old singers withdrew, no young or middle-aged singers took part to carry on.
The spring song fair of the third day
Spring fairs peak between the third and fourth lunar months, busiest on the third day of the third month, when young people gather to choose and to compete.
Mid-autumn autumn song fair
Autumn fairs fall in the eighth and ninth months and are best at Mid-autumn, celebrating the harvest after the fields are cleared.
Courtship answered in song
One side poses, the other answers; songs carried courtship both ways and put the outcome before neighbours as witness.
Local names for the song fair
The same gathering goes by several local names in Zhuang, each preserved where that market ground has its own usage.
Contest songs and improvised verses
Beyond contests, improvised verses on sight and feeling were prized; composers like Liu Zhengcheng passed on songs such as the two named here.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The song fair has many names in the Zhuang language — xuhuan, xufeng, longdong, wopo — read differently but all pointing to the same thing: relying on a market ground, agreeing on a day to gather people in one place to sing in antiphonal response. Almost all of the larger Zhuang settlement areas have song fairs, and each fairground has its own fixed location, toward which fair-goers and song listeners head at this season every year. Spring fairs and autumn fairs each occupy a stretch of time: spring is at its height between the third and fourth lunar months, with the third day of the third lunar month held most densely; autumn gathers in the eighth and ninth months, with the Mid-Autumn Festival the most important of all. The choice of location also matters, mostly places that make it easy to gather and to disperse — watersides, field edges, or open ground in the village. The scale, singer lineups, and melodies of song fairs differ from place to place, but choosing a partner through song and competing in and appreciating song are consistent at their core. The inheritor Liu Zhengcheng of the Nanning Municipal Institute of Ethnic Culture and Art grew up in Yongning, a home of mountain songs, immersed from childhood, hearing at festivals, celebrations, and weddings nothing but the antiphonal singing of the older generation of song masters.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It is the natural vehicle of Zhuang folk song culture, and plays an important role in the emergence, transmission, and development of every kind of traditional Zhuang folk song. At the same time it is a treasure house of Zhuang folk literature, of important value for understanding and studying ancient Zhuang social life. Rapid measures should be taken to rescue and protect this ancient ethnic custom. Liu Zhengcheng (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Zhuang ethnicity, born in 1935, from Yongning, Guangxi. Liu Zhengcheng grew up in a hometown of mountain songs; at every festival, celebration, and wedding, what he heard and saw was the antiphonal mountain singing of the older generation of song masters. Liu Zhengcheng can compose and excels at singing; he is adept at singing impromptu in response to the scene, his artistic expression is beautiful and practiced, and he has complete mastery of the singing technique of the Zhuang song fair. His disciples are now able to perform on stage, but their skill in composing songs still needs further training. His representative works include Not Afraid of Deep Waters for Love and Watching the Phoenix Fly Away, Leaving an Empty Nest, among others. He is a representative inheritor of the Zhuang Song Fair, 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:
- Liu Zhengcheng 02-0777
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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