Guyuyan Folk Tales
01 · Historical Records
The fishermen who lived by this livelihood had not the means for deep-sea fishing and could only migrate like migratory birds along the water-and-land margin of the coast, fishing and shrimping on the tidal flats and in the shallow seas at the river mouths. The old migratory fishers of Erjiegou were mainly fishermen who had migrated here from the central and eastern Hebei areas of North China by land and by water, and they were the creators and transmitters of the old migratory-fisher folk literature.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Through the ages the small town of Erjiegou in the Liaohao river mouth area has been a place where a special group of fishermen, the old migratory fishers, settled and gathered. Because this group followed an unsettled primitive fishing-and-hunting livelihood, the people of the Liaohao river mouth called them old migratory fishers. Because of the special nature of their livelihood, old migratory-fisher folk literature differs greatly from the folk literature of ordinary island fishing villages. Its clear character of migratory-fisher livelihood and the lingering charm of primitive culture reflect in every aspect the group's history and life, custom and tradition, belief and cultural creation. In form, old migratory-fisher folk literature is short in length, simple in plot and primitive in content, with little development or change. The old migratory-fisher folk literature of Erjiegou is richly stored. Because of the special nature of their livelihood the group was in a marginal state in every period of Chinese history, and the documents record very little of it.
Myths of the Origin of the Old Boats and Nets
Myths and legends explaining the origin of the old boats and nets and reflecting primitive fishing life.
Fishing Songs
More than a thousand old migratory-fisher fishing songs collected locally.
A Historical Account of the Scenery and Folkways of Fishing Families
One of the representative works collecting stories told by Liu Zeting.
Legends of the Liaodong Bay
One of the representative works collecting old migratory-fisher folk stories.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In the past decade or more the local cultural department has excavated and collected nearly a thousand myths, stories and legends explaining the origin of the old boats and nets and reflecting primitive fishing life, and gathered more than a thousand fishing songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Liu Zeting, a cultural worker of fisherman stock descended from the old migratory fishers, can tell several hundred stories and legends about the old migratory fishers and is an important transmitter of old migratory-fisher folk culture. Old migratory-fisher folk literature records and reflects this ancient livelihood in the manner of oral history, with important historical, cultural and scientific value. In recent years this livelihood has mostly been interrupted along the Chinese coast and in the river-mouth areas of the world, and the older generation of migratory fishers have died one after another, so that old migratory-fisher folk literature is on the verge of dying out. For this reason the old migratory-fisher folk literature surviving at Erjiegou, the mouth of the Liaohe, is all the more precious and urgently needs protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Zeting 03-0783
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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