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. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China the forest districts of the northeast were developed in a concentrated way, and forestry workers used the chants to unify the pace at which timber was carried on the shoulders, helping to complete loading, stacking and transport; this produced the systematized Xing’anling forest haozi, which spread widely while timber was being transported in the Songhua River basin, in the Greater and Lesser Khingan areas of Heilongjiang province, and were most flourishing in the Yichun forest district.
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. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China the forest districts of the northeast were developed in a concentrated way, and forestry workers threw themselves into production, using the chants to unify the pace at which timber was carried on the shoulders and to help complete loading, stacking and transport. This produced the systematized Xing’anling forest haozi, which spread widely in the northeast, especially in the Yichun forest district. The tunes of the Xing’anling forest haozi rise and fall dramatically and are rugged and unrestrained; they have the typical character of northeastern folk music and can be roughly divided into the felling chant, the timber-carrying chant, the log-rolling chant, the floating chant and other types. The felling chant among them is comparatively simple, having only four lines: fall along the mountain, fall up the mountain, fall down the mountain and fall across the mountain.
Log-carrying chants
One of the principal types of the Xing’anling forest haozi, used mainly for work such as hauling timber on level ground and stacking it.
Log-rolling chants
One of the principal types of the Xing’anling forest haozi, sung to accompany the work of rolling logs.
Log-floating chants
One of the principal types of the Xing’anling forest haozi, sung to accompany the work of floating timber downstream.
Four-line felling chant
The felling chant is comparatively simple, with only four lines: fall along the mountain, fall up the mountain, fall down the mountain and fall across the mountain.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Xing’anling forest haozi are a form of folk song sung while timber is being transported in the Songhua River basin, and they spread widely in the Greater and Lesser Khingan areas of Heilongjiang province. The timber-carrying chants are divided into the big-pinch chant, the mushroom-head chant, the nose-pulling chant, the bent-waist hooking chant and others, and are used mainly for work such as hauling timber on level ground and stacking it. The log-rolling chants are divided into the great-rope-haul chant, the tile-carrying chant, the liao chant and the yaoyi sanhao, while the floating chants are divided into the sheep-dragging chant, the stack-breaking chant, the foreign-labour chant, the sheep-labour chant, the mountain-name chant and others.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Senlin Work Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the middle of the twentieth century the Xing’anling forest haozi served to unify the pace, promote production and strengthen cohesion in the production practice of the local forest districts, became a spiritual symbol of the working people of the forest districts, and have research value for forest culture and for the folk music of the ethnic groups. With the mechanization of forestry production and the sharp decline of timber resources, the kinds of Xing’anling forest haozi have also grown fewer; at present the forest haozi still circulating in the Yichun forest district are only the bent-waist hooking chant, the great-rope-haul chant and a few others. The Xing’anling forest haozi, which flourished for nearly a century, are already in an endangered state and urgently need protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Shouyong 05-2108
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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