Zhuang Huigu Customs
01 · Historical Records
The Zhuang assembly-drum custom took shape in the Song dynasty, flourished in the Qing dynasty, and has a history of more than one thousand years to date.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Zhuang are a farming people who cultivate rice; among the people there circulate legends of the "sky-reaching drum," in which assembly drums replaced frogs in reporting the news of rain to the Thunder God, and of the "evil-dispelling drum," in which assembly drums imitate thunder to drive away evil spirits. With the drum as the lead, accompanied by gongs and cymbals and struck by many people at once, the sound is majestic and powerful, and it is praised as the "mighty gongs and drums of the South." In the eyes of the Zhuang people, the assembly drum symbolizes authority and strength; it must be made by an experienced and highly respected drum master, using tall trees such as camphor, and when the tree is felled and the axe first raised, incense must be burned to worship the tree god. Traditionally, the assembly-drum custom mostly takes place during the Spring Festival. Every year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the male members of the whole family gather to "invite the drum" and re-secure the drumhead; the first loud drum sound struck when the drum is opened is taken as auspicious, and on New Year's Eve the drum is wiped with warm water. From the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, every village has drummers beating drums at the village entrance; the village elder worships the Earth God and the Thunder God, and after the first round of drums is struck, each household takes turns beating the drum to pray for peace and prosperity for the country and the people, with dragon and lion performances adding to the celebration. By the 16th of the first lunar month, the drumhead is removed and hung in a cool, dry place high up, while the drum body is used to store grain, to be reassembled and used again the following year. Thereafter, for the birth of a child, marriage, harvest celebrations, and receiving guests after a house move, people all celebrate with assembly drums and enjoy drumming competitions; the Zhuang assembly-drum custom has permeated every aspect of the Zhuang people's lives. In recent years, the Zhuang assembly drum has developed not only into a mass performance program and a competition event, but also into one of the important cultural symbols of the Zhuang people, featuring at celebrations such as the Shanghai World Expo, the Guangxi Ethnic Traditional Sports Games, the Nanning International Folk Song Arts Festival, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Mashan County has become the "Home of Chinese Assembly Drums." The Zhuang assembly-drum custom has a long history, wide influence, diverse forms, and rich content, and is an organic combination of ethnic memory and cultural identity. It integrates drum making and drum-use customs, condensing the cultural connotations of the Zhuang people's celebration of festivals, marriage and child-rearing, and folk exhibitions, as well as the rice-farming economy and the belief that all things have spirits; it reflects the life force and unique creativity that the Zhuang people have unleashed in the course of adapting to their environment; it is an important component of Chinese drum culture and has positive significance in promoting rural cultural revitalization, advancing the integration of culture and tourism, and helping to raise incomes and achieve prosperity.
Making the drum and worshipping the tree spirit
Only a respected master may make the drum from camphor wood, and incense is burned to the tree spirit before the first cut is struck.
Fetching and tightening the drum
On the twenty-third of the twelfth month the men gather to refit the drum skin, and the first clear beat after tightening is taken as the good omen.
Cleaning the drum and the first beat
The drum is washed inside and out with warm water on New Year's Eve, and the new year opens only after the elders have worshipped the earth and thunder gods.
Beating at the village gate from the first to the fifteenth
For the first fifteen days drummers stand at the village gate in turn, drum beating passing from household to household, with dragons and lions joining in.
Removing the skin after the fifteenth
On the sixteenth day the skin is taken down and hung in shade for the summer, while the hollow body is reused to store grain until the next spring.
Drum contests between villages
At leisure times, weddings, harvests and house moves, neighbouring villages settle scores through drum contests judged openly on tension, accuracy and precision.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Zhuang assembly-drum custom was formed by the Zhuang people of the Hongshui River basin in the course of rice farming; by beating assembly drums it creates a lively atmosphere, achieving the aims of dispelling evil and welcoming auspiciousness and of competing in entertainment. It includes drum making, inviting the drum, opening the drum, drumming, and unloading the drum, and takes Mashan County, Guangxi, as its core distribution area. Local people often gather by village in one place to compete in drumming, hence the later name "assembly drum" (hui gu).
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, this custom is widespread in people's daily lives and continues through master-apprentice transmission, group transmission, and other means. The transmission of the assembly drum follows two paths: master-apprentice and group. Drum makers take apprentices, teaching them one drum body and one drumhead at a time; drumming relies on the collective scenes of the villages, with drum sounds every day around the festivals, and young people learn to play simply by listening. As more people request drums, more people learn drums, so in Mashan the assembly drum is not the craft of a few but something with a team in every village that anyone can take part in. Once the drum sounds, the meaning of dispelling evil and welcoming auspiciousness is put into practice; there is no need for anyone to explain it — the villagers all know which passage invites the gods and which celebrates joy.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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