Sijishengchandiao
01 · Historical Records
The Hani four-seasons production songs circulate in the Hani-concentrated areas of Honghe, Yuanyang, Luchun, Jinping and Jianshui counties of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, and their origin is no later than the Tang.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
As an encyclopaedia of terraced-field production technique and its ritual taboos, the Hani four-seasons production songs include the content of five great units: the introduction, winter, spring, summer and autumn. They are not only a comprehensive summary of terraced-field production technique but also a summing-up of the Hani social ethical standards. At the same time their plain, straightforward and humorous style of expression gives a warm and moving artistic enjoyment and aesthetic experience.
Introduction
One of the five units of the four-seasons production songs, stressing the significance for Hani survival of the songs handed down from the ancestors.
Winter
One of the units recounting the procedures and technical points of terraced-field farming by season.
Spring
One of the units recounting the procedures and technical points of terraced-field farming by season.
Summer
One of the units recounting the procedures and technical points of terraced-field farming by season.
Autumn
One of the units recounting the procedures and technical points of terraced-field farming by season.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The four-seasons production songs circulate in the Hani-concentrated areas of Honghe, Yuanyang, Luchun, Jinping and Jianshui counties of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan; the versions sung in the various places differ slightly within a general agreement, all closely corresponding to the seasons, sacrificial rites and farming procedures of the local terraced-field rice culture, forming a pattern of transmission that answers one another within the Hani-concentrated area.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The introduction stresses the significance for the survival of the Hani of the four-seasons production songs handed down from the ancestors; the remaining parts recount, in the order of the seasons, the procedures and technical points of terraced-field farming, together with the corresponding astronomical and calendrical knowledge, the laws of natural phenological change, knowledge of festivals and sacrificial rites and the norms of life etiquette. The four-seasons production songs are orderly in system, easy to understand, chantable and singable, vivid and lively in language, close to production and life and long in transmission, with a broad popular base. They bear witness to the course of change of the Hani terraced-field rice culture and have important reference value for the study of the historical and scientific value of human terraced-field rice culture. Whether in the past or the present, the orally taught four-seasons production songs play a guiding role in the production and life of Hani society. With social change, the coming of the wave of economic globalisation and especially the massive influx of a dominant foreign culture, the values of Hani young people have changed, and the transmission of the four-seasons production songs has reached a situation of lacking successors. At present the elders and sacrificers who can systematically sing the four-seasons production songs are few enough to be counted on one's fingers, and the young Hani who devote themselves to learning them are as rare as phoenix feathers. The salvaging and protection of the four-seasons production songs brook no delay.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhu Xiaohe 01-0018
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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