Senlin Work Songs

01 · Historical Records

Forest haozi are the chants sung by logging workers in the forest districts while felling trees, hauling timber and stacking timber; they circulate mainly in the Changbai Mountains of the northeast, the Greater and Lesser Khingan ranges, and the major forest districts of the northwest and the south. Changbaishan forest haozi are a kind of folk song sung by logging workers of the Changbai Mountains district of Jilin province while carrying timber on their shoulders; for thousands of years they have accompanied the forest and the labour of logging, passing continuously through the forests of the Changbai Mountains. When they are sung, the leader of the timber-carrying gang, the gangzi tou, takes the lead and the rest join in.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Forest haozi are the chants sung by logging workers in the forest districts while felling trees, hauling timber and stacking timber; they circulate mainly in the Changbai Mountains of the northeast, the Greater and Lesser Khingan ranges, and the major forest districts of the northwest and the south. Different methods of labour have given rise to a number of names: the timber-hauling chants of the Changbai Mountains district, for instance, include the mushroom-head chant, the big-pinch chant, the great-rope-haul chant, the liao chant, the tile-carrying chant and the floating chant. The forest districts of central and southern China also have the pai fa chant, sung by the workers when they set a timber raft into the river current. Because forest work is of great physical intensity and high danger, the chants have correspondingly taken on a style that is high-pitched and unrestrained, magnificent in momentum and overwhelming in force. Changbaishan forest haozi are a kind of folk song sung by logging workers of the Changbai Mountains district of Jilin province while carrying timber on their shoulders; for thousands of years they have accompanied the forest and the labour of logging, passing continuously through the forests of the Changbai Mountains. When such chants are sung, the leader of the timber-carrying gang, the gangzi tou, sings the lead and the rest join in, so as to unify the rhythm of labour and raise labour efficiency. For every chant, the opening tone given by each chant leader is of special importance; the folk call it the shuai. The loudness, pitch, roughness and strength of the shuai tone determine the spirit and the strength of the other carriers, their step and gait, and their grasp of the distance and the time of the haul. The shuai is divided into the upward shuai and the downward shuai; in the upward shuai the end of the note is turned upward, meaning that the joiners should exert themselves upward, while the downward shuai means the opposite. Changbaishan forest haozi have a clear rhythm and a beautiful melody, with a distinctive vocal style and a rich flavour, and are stirring to hear. In the course of long development they have produced many representative works of chant melody, such as Lao Mu Zhu Heng Heng, Lao Tai Ni Diao, Ha Ma Diao and Shi Ba Gua, and they have brought forth many excellent singers.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

By function, Changbaishan forest haozi are divided into the uphill-crossing chant, the timber-stacking chant, the leap-up chant, the great-rope-haul chant and many others; in the singing, the giving of the opening tone and the joining of it are the most distinctive features. The Changbaishan timber-carrying chants record faithfully the shape of life in the course of the development of this region, display the cultural creativity of the local working people, and provide important material for the study of the local culture of the northeast.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Senlin Work Songs.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In recent years, with rising mechanization and the implementation of the logging-ban policy, together with the gradual ageing of the folk performers, the forest haozi transmitted over thousands of years have declined in the Changbaishan Mountains, with few successors and on the verge of extinction, and are in urgent need of rescue. Wang Shouyong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1956, native of Antu county, Jilin province. Because he was familiar with the procedure and the technique of using Changbaishan forest haozi, he later became a chant leader. He often went to the timber gangs and villages to collect chants, and the chants he sings are rich and varied. The changes of tone in his chants are clearly indicative and carry a strong local character. The kang (heated brick bed platform) at his home is a place where the chants are transmitted; at every festival many logging workers gather there to learn from one another and to compare their chanting. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item forest haozi (Changbaishan forest haozi). He is glad to perform Changbaishan forest haozi at various activities and has also taught them to his colleagues and apprentices; he now has more than thirty disciples and students, among them Wang Kuiwu and Wu Fengqi.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Wang Shouyong 05-2108

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Senlin Work Songs (Wenxueyishujielianhehuiminjianwenyijiaxiehui, Jilin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wang Shouyong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗