Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsGanzhoushinankang, JiangxiBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The old foundation of boat singing was the end-of-year sacrifice (laji): at the turn of the year, when the waters were far and the roads blocked, the villagers sent off a paper dragon boat with songs, both to send away pestilence and to send off the old year. Over time, seats for ancestral spirits were added to the paper boat, and the boat became a divine vessel, with song becoming part of the ritual; the Qu Yuan and the local ancestors praised in the singing were thus handed down together on the same boat, and the flourishing of boat singing grew year by year.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Hakka boat-singing custom of southern Jiangxi is a folk activity carried out by the Hakka people of southern Jiangxi around boat-singing rituals from the Spring Festival to the Yuanxiao Festival. It is mainly distributed across several townships of Nankang District, Ganzhou City, in the heartland of southern Jiangxi, radiating outward from the core areas of Hengzhai Township, Daping Township, and Longling Town, and spreading along mountain ranges and water systems; it is one of the hallmark cultural traditions of the Hakka people of this region. The Hakka boat-singing custom of southern Jiangxi originated in the end-of-year sacrifice (laji) of primitive society. The Hakka people, mindful of the source of the water they drink, venerate their roots and honor their ancestors; with the worship of forebears as its main content, the custom prays for favorable weather and the removal of disasters and misfortune. The entire boat-singing ritual begins on the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and ends on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, lasting twenty days; all the village's Spring Festival activities revolve around the "divine boat." The boat-singing ritual consists of stages such as worshipping the divine boat, the divine boat's procession, the dragon dance and god parade, and the burning of the boat at the water gate, expressing the fine wishes of driving away evil and pestilence, welcoming auspiciousness and receiving blessings, and remembering Qu Yuan. The boat-singing ritual songs are the sung libretto of the boat-singing ritual; derived from Hakka folk ballads and reworked in performance, they display the characteristics of Hakka oral art. Each piece is composed of several "seven-character quatrain" poems, and they have the following main features: first, rigorous structure and neat antithesis; second, strong narrative quality; third, rich content, so that whether the theme is recalling antiquity, chanting history, patriotism, concern for the people, or philosophy, the songs contain the wisdom of the ancients and rich moral connotations, and have therefore won wide recognition. Along with the annual ritual activities, the boat-singing ritual songs have been passed down from generation to generation, gradually reaching the height of folk oral art and becoming a monumental and enduring masterpiece of Hakka folk literature. The Hakka boat-singing custom of southern Jiangxi is mostly sung in ancestral halls, with the singing led by those of higher literacy and the others joining in. Every Yuanxiao Festival, people make decorated boats with dragon heads and phoenix tails, and the whole clan (or village) gathers in the ancestral hall to pass down, in combination with the worship of gods and ancestors, the inherited Hakka boat-singing ritual songs of southern Jiangxi. Performers from various places gather to hold singing competitions day and night, and clan members often send abundant fruit up to the singing stage to encourage the singers, presenting a magnificent scene. The Hakka boat-singing custom of southern Jiangxi is a true portrayal of the Hakka people's veneration of their ancestors, their tradition of farming and learning passed down in the family, and their ethnic customs. The Hakka spirit of perseverance and unceasing self-improvement contained in the songs demonstrates the tenacious vitality of this tradition in Hakka villages.

Building the spirit boat

A wide boat with dragon head and phoenix tail is built to carry the shrine and offerings.

Offering to the spirit boat

The clan gathers in the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices before the singing begins.

Parading the boat

The boat calls at each village gate for incense before moving on, dragons dancing alongside.

Singing the boat ritual songs

The songs are new creations from Hakka folk verse, strict in metre and strong in narrative.

All-night singing contests

Singers compete through the night while the clan sends fruit to the platform in encouragement.

Burning the boat at the stream mouth

The boat is burned at the stream mouth to send the deity off for the year.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Boat-singing scenes are most grand in Nankang, with Hengzhai, Daping, and Longling as the core, spreading along mountain ranges and water systems; wherever the waterways reach, the custom reaches, traveling farther than the roads. Ancestral halls are the main venues for singing, with mostly literate people leading the song and the rest joining in; when performers gather, they compete in song day and night, and villagers send fruit up to the singing stage to cheer them on, so that the small dragon-boat troupes of each place imitate and correct one another.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

As a living, collectively transmitted cultural item and an ancient cultural relic, the Hakka boat-singing custom of southern Jiangxi remains to this day an important basis for the people's historical memory and cultural identity.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Lantern Festival (Ganzhoushinankang, Jiangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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