Haiyang Work Songs
01 · Historical Records
According to research, the Zhoushan fishermen's work songs took shape around the Tang and Song periods and flourished during the two hundred years and more from the Kangxi reign of the Qing to the Republic of China.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The work song is an important type of Chinese folk song; it arises out of physical labour, serves production activities directly, and truly reflects the conditions of labour and the mental state of the producer. At first it was only a natural cry of labour, and later it was gradually beautified into a sung tune, taking on the artistic form of song. The sea-going work song is one of the many kinds of work song, circulating mainly in coastal regions. Its content is mainly maritime labour, and it usually includes such kinds of work song as rowing, poling, tracking, hauling the sail, weighing anchor and hauling the net, and those who sing them are mostly fishermen engaged in fishing and in handling boats. The Zhoushan fishermen's work songs are highly representative among the folk work songs of Zhejiang and of China's coastal regions, and are recorded and included in both the Anthology of Chinese Folk Songs, Zhejiang volume, and the Selected Chinese Fishing Songs. Until the 1960s and 1970s after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Zhoushan fishermen's work songs still kept their vitality. The development of fishing transport promoted the spread of the fishermen's work songs, enlarging their reach to every part of the south-east coast and extending their influence over the whole East China Sea area.
Anchor-hoisting chant
One of the kinds of Zhoushan fishermen's work song classified by the procedure of fishing labour; it belongs to the hand-pumping class.
Sail-hoisting chant
One of the kinds of Zhoushan fishermen's work song classified by the procedure of fishing labour; it belongs to the hauling class.
Oar-rowing chant
One of the kinds of Zhoushan fishermen's work song classified by the procedure of fishing labour; it belongs to the hand-rowing class.
Net-hauling chant
One of the kinds of Zhoushan fishermen's work song classified by the procedure of fishing labour.
Great and small chant types
Divided according to the degree of force required by the operation into the great chant and the small chant types; there are no strict boundaries between the various kinds of work song and they can often be used flexibly and interchangeably. According to the characteristics of the labour operation they are further divided into the hand-pulling, hand-rowing, hand-pumping, measuring, hauling, carrying, striking, shoulder-carrying, hoist-loading and tossing classes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Zhoushan fishermen's work songs are the general name for the work songs of the fishermen and boatmen of the Zhoushan archipelago in Zhejiang; the earliest fishermen's work songs arose in the labour process of the local fishermen and boatmen, and after generations of accumulation and transmission they formed a complete system of maritime folk song. According to the procedure of fishing labour, the Zhoushan fishermen's work songs can be divided into more than twenty kinds such as the anchor-hoisting chant, the sail-hoisting chant, the oar-rowing chant and the net-hauling chant; according to the specific characteristics of the labour operation they can further be divided into the hand-pulling, hand-rowing, hand-pumping, measuring, hauling, carrying, striking, shoulder-carrying, hoist-loading and tossing classes; and according to the degree of force required by the operation they can be divided into the great chant and the small chant types. There are no strict boundaries between the various kinds of work song, and they can often be used flexibly and interchangeably. The Zhoushan fishermen's work songs are one of the important contents of the production and life of the local fishermen and boatmen; they have a solid mass basis and have long circulated among the people without declining.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Haiyang Work Songs · Haiyang Work Songs · Haiyang Work Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Compared with the fishermen's work songs of other coastal parts of Zhejiang, the Zhoushan fishermen's work songs are relatively complete in their kinds and their tunes are rugged and beautiful; they express the marked characteristics of maritime culture and have distinctive value for the study of maritime folklore. At present, because mechanised fishing methods have replaced the traditional manual fishing operations, the fishermen's work songs have lost their original environment of survival, their development has stagnated, their transmitters have fallen sharply in number, and they are endangered and urgently need rescue.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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