Tujia Dongdongkui
01 · Historical Records
Judging from the two bone whistles excavated in May 1994 at the Beiqiu site on the Xiangxi section of the Yuan River, the instrument must have originated in the early to middle Neolithic period, 6,500 to 7,000 years ago. It went through a long process of historical development, changing from a bone whistle that could sound only a single note into a bird whistle able to sound two notes, and finally taking shape as the Dong Dong Kui with three holes producing one tube tone. The Dong Dong Kui of the Tujia people in Longshan County drew attention from all quarters with its distinctive musical style. It performed in Beijing in the early 1960s and went to Poland in 1987, where it received unanimous praise from music experts at home and abroad.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Dong Dong Kui is an extremely ancient free-reed wind instrument of the Tujia people, transmitted mainly in Tujia-inhabited areas such as Longshan County, Hunan Province. The Dong Dong Kui is easy to make: it uses the thin tail end of a bamboo about 1 cm in diameter, 10 to 14 cm long, as its tube; the upper end keeps its node, and below the node the reed is shaved and a hole bored, forming three holes that sound as a single tube tone. The Dong Dong Kui has a crisp, bright sound that combines beaten notes with trills; it has formed a figurative musical idiom and fixed tune patterns by imitating birdsong, insectsong and the sound of wind over springs and flowing streams. In performance the Dong Dong Kui is blown vertically: the left index finger covers the third tone hole, the right index and middle fingers cover the second and first tone holes respectively, and the player holds the upper reed in the mouth and blows. In this process the left hand keeps the rhythm and the right hand fingers the melody. In Pojiao, Longshan County, there are people who can blow double pipes, holding one Dong Dong Kui in each hand and pressing one instrument pipe with each hand; drawing on skilled technique they blow both pipes at once on the same tune pattern. The Dong Dong Kui is an important spiritual treasure of the Tujia people of Xiangxi; as a highly distinctive performance genre, it occupies an irreplaceable place in the life of the local Tujia people.
Dong Dong Kui
One of the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns, using children's songs in the Tujia language as its content; it can be blown and sung, combining instrument and voice.
Ba Lie Dong
One of the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns.
Dai Du Li
One of the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns.
Nai Yo Nai
One of the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns.
La Pa Ke
One of the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns.
Three-hole vertical fingering
In performance the instrument is blown vertically: the left index finger covers the third tone hole, the right index and middle fingers cover the second and first tone holes, and the player blows with the mouth holding the upper reed; the left hand keeps the rhythm and the right hand fingers the melody.
Double-pipe blowing
In Pojiao, Longshan County, there are people who can blow double pipes, holding one Dong Dong Kui in each hand, pressing one instrument pipe with each hand, and by skilled technique blowing both pipes at once on the same tune pattern.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In the Xiche River basin of Longshan County in western Hunan, the traditional Dong Dong Kui tune patterns widely popular around Tasha, Dianfang, Pojiao, Mia'ertan, Longtou and Jashi include 【Dong Dong Kui】, 【Ba Lie Dong】, 【Dai Du Li】, 【Nai Yo Nai】, 【La Pa Ke】 and some twenty more. Their content is mainly children's songs in the Tujia language, with words and melody together; they can be blown and sung, combining instrument and voice.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present this ancient form of instrumental performance faces the danger of disappearing and urgently needs strengthened rescue and protection. Yan Sanxiu (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, Tujia, born in October 1953, native of Longshan County, Hunan Province. From childhood she played a fine hand on the Tujia Dong Dong Kui, and often studied and honed Dong Dong Kui technique together with her family, constantly exploring and drawing conclusions, until she became a Dong Dong Kui playing expert known far and wide. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the Tujia Dong Dong Kui intangible cultural heritage project. Through oral teaching from master to apprentice she trained the disciple Peng Xianghua, and served as a transmitter of Dong Dong Kui at Baixing Village Primary School in Dianfang Town.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yan Sanxiu 03-0883
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。