Xinhua Mountain Songs

01 · Historical Records

Xinhua mountain songs, with a long and distant source, are a product of the fusion of the cultures of many peoples, including Han, Yao and Miao. They originated in the pre-Qin period, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and have been transmitted through the Ming and Qing to the present, enduring without decline.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xinhua County lies in the western part of Loudi City, Hunan Province. It was originally an area settled by ethnic minorities and is an important region of Meishan culture. After thousands of years of ethnic fusion most residents of Xinhua have become Han, yet they still keep the custom of singing mountain songs. There is also a form of "rolling-board mountain song", whose opening tone is likewise particularly high and which is very leapful; it is often begun by one person and joined in by the many, ending with a vigorous "he he" shout - the rolling-board line carrying great momentum. "Liuliu mountain songs" are fairly popular throughout Xinhua County; they are so called because the padding words "liuliu" are inserted in the middle of every half-line. Level-register mountain songs circulate mainly in the hilly and plain areas; their pitch is low, their drawn-out tones short, and they include both solo and antiphonal singing. Traditional Xinhua mountain songs can be classified by content into labour songs, songs on current affairs, ritual songs, songs for expressing feeling and so on. Representative works include "Zishui Beach Songs", "Bridal Chamber Revels" and "Village Affairs Songs". One high-register mountain song, "Even an Immortal Descending Cannot Be Guessed", was sung before Mao Zedong and other central leaders in the Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai, and became the most famous work of Xinhua mountain songs.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xinhua mountain songs have lines of varied and measured length, use many padding words in colloquial dialect, and are rich in the flavour of singing and telling. They fall into two main classes, the high register and the level (low) register. High-register mountain songs circulate mainly in the high mountain areas; their pitch is high and resonant, their drawn-out tones long and their rhythm free, and there are both solo and antiphonal forms. Around the Fengjia mountains there is a form of "extra-high-register" song called the "wuwa mountain song", which only top singers can perform, sung largely in falsetto, and hence also called the "sharp-throated" mountain song. Xinhua mountain songs have lines of varied and measured length, use many padding words in colloquial dialect, and are rich in the flavour of singing and telling. They fall into two main classes, the high register and the level (low) register: high-register mountain songs circulate mainly in the high mountain areas, their pitch high and resonant, their drawn-out tones long and their rhythm free; around the Fengjia mountains there is a form of "extra-high-register" song called the "wuwa mountain song", which only top singers can perform and is sung largely in falsetto, hence also called the "sharp-throated" mountain song; level-register mountain songs circulate mainly in the hilly and plain areas, with lower pitch and shorter drawn-out tones, in both solo and antiphonal forms.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Xinhua mountain songs reflect comprehensively and vividly the folk customs and cultural traditions of the Meishan area, and are important material for the study and understanding of Huxiang culture and Meishan culture. At present this ancient form of folk song is already in an endangered state, and rescue and protection are pressing.

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Xinhua Mountain Songs (Loudi, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗