Bouyei Folk Songs

01 · Historical Records

The Hao Hua Hong tune is a song by which the Bouyei people narrate love. It originated in the Bouyei mountain villages around Haohuahong Township, Huishui County, Guizhou Province, and is widely transmitted in Huishui, Qingyan, Huaxi, Longli, Guiding and other areas. This tune was already being sung among the Bouyei people in the Qing dynasty, and has a history of more than 200 years.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Bouyei are one of the ethnic minorities of southern China, living mainly in the two Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefectures of Qiannan and Qianxinan in Guizhou Province, as well as in Anshun City and Guiyang. Bouyei folk songs are of many kinds, including ancient songs, narrative songs, love songs, wine songs and labour songs, and are performed in solo, antiphonal, unison and overlapping multi-part forms. Bouyei folk song tunes are divided into "da diao" and "xiao diao". "Da diao" is used for formal occasions such as weddings and funerals, has a high, stirring pitch that draws people in; "xiao diao" is often sung on moonlit nights or when courting at the "gan biao" gatherings, with a soft, gentle, lively and pleasing pitch. In the Hao Hua Hong tune, "hao hua" refers to the thorn-plum blossom seen everywhere in the fields around Bouyei villages. In the past, Bouyei people sang this tune chiefly to make contact and to seek a partner in love, so a suitable occasion had to be chosen and it could not be sung casually. When a man and a woman sing love songs in antiphonal dialogue, they generally first sing the guest-honouring song, then the greeting song, and then the cherishing song. By the time they reach the "two-eight railing", having gradually tested each other, their feelings are already quite close, and they take "Hao Hua Hong" as the opening of the song and sing in antiphonal dialogue to their hearts' content. The Hao Hua Hong tune has a simple melody and is a folk song in the yu mode, comprising four lines in two musical sections. The lyrics are four lines of seven characters, using the bi xing device to express feelings and meaning. The tune is built from the five notes "6, 1, 2, 3, 5". The second musical section repeats the first, forming parallel sections; the melody unfolds throughout around the note "6", moves quite actively, and the final notes of the last two sections both fall on the tonic. In its more than 200 years of development, the Hao Hua Hong tune inherited the original tunes of Bouyei folk songs and also absorbed the seven-character four-line form of Han mountain songs, gradually forming the Huishui mountain song tune with a distinctive regional style, which together with da diao, xiao diao, da ge and xiao ge has become representative of Bouyei tunes. Its simple, lively, melodious and turning melody and its fresh, concise lyrics with far-reaching meaning express the healthy life interests of the Bouyei people, while at the same time serving as a vivid confirmation of the changes in Bouyei traditional culture. The Hao Hua Hong tune has long circulated among the Bouyei people, and its influence is profound.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Hao Hua Hong tune originated in the Bouyei mountain villages around Haohuahong Township, Huishui County, Guizhou Province, and is widely transmitted in Huishui, Qingyan, Huaxi, Longli, Guiding and other areas. This tune was already being sung among the Bouyei people in the Qing dynasty, and has a history of more than 200 years. When a man and a woman sing love songs in antiphonal dialogue, they generally first sing the guest-honouring song, then the greeting song, and then the cherishing song.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present the social foundation on which the Hao Hua Hong tune lives and develops has undergone enormous change, and with most of the singers dying one after another there is a shortage of people to carry on this untouched-original Bouyei mountain song tradition. Its prospects are worrying and it urgently needs rescue and protection. Wang Keguo (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A male of the Bouyei ethnicity, born in February 1966, native of Huishui County, Guizhou Province. Through long study and practice he has mastered a large number of Bouyei folk songs. He can improvise and sing on subjects including production and labour, love and marriage, and current affairs and major events, and is well loved by the local people. Building on the work of his predecessors, he innovated the singing forms, pronunciation methods and performance forms of folk songs and formed his own style, and so his fame spread abroad. In March 2010 he was engaged by Huiyan Primary School of Haohuahong Township as a local teaching instructor for Bouyei folk song Hao Hua Hong tune, and has devoted himself to its transmission and development. He is a representative inheritor of Bouyei folk songs (Hao Hua Hong tune), a project of the fifth national-level batch intangible cultural heritage. He is frequently invited to take part in folk song competitions in various places, and has repeatedly won prizes in various contests.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Wang Keguo 05-2120

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Bouyei Folk Songs (Huishui, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wang Keguo · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗