Lingao Fishing Songs
01 · Historical Records
Since the Han dynasty fishermen from the inland have migrated into what is now Lingao County (territory of Danzhou Commandery in Han times) and made a living by catching fish. By the Song dynasty the fishing industry of Lingao was already fairly well developed. In 1962 the great Chinese playwright Tian Han came to Lingao on inspection and to collect material, and wrote in praise: “Beside the coconut groves a few stanzas of song, / The Wenlan river water curls in a fresh new wave.” In 1977 the well-known Chinese composer Huang Zhun came to Lingao to collect material and said that “the Lingao fishing song ‘Li Li Mei’ is one of the best fishing songs in China”. For the renown of its fishing songs, Lingao County was awarded the title “Hometown of Chinese Folk Art” by the Ministry of Culture in 2003. In November 2007 it won first prize at the China Fishing Song Invitational Tournament held in the Zhoushan Archipelago. In recent years the Lingao fishing songs have suffered a shortage of successors under the impact of fashionable popular music, and in 2008 were entered on the intangible cultural heritage list of Hainan Province.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Lingao fishing song is an important genre of traditional folk song in Hainan Province, transmitted mainly in the Lingao area of Hainan. Fishermen are accustomed to living by the sea, and adult unmarried men and women have a custom of living in groups; the places where they congregate are called the “men's lodge” and the “women's lodge”. On nights when the sky is high and the moon is bright, they gather on the beach for song contests, and the singing of “fishermen's songs at dusk” rises and falls on all sides. When the fishermen put out to sea, the fishing songs drift with them over the water. The fishing grounds and the village meeting places are everywhere places for singing contests. The Lingao fishing songs are a portrayal of the life of Lingao fishermen; their subjects are wide-ranging and their content rich — history and human affairs, fishing-village scenery, catching fish and weaving nets, love and married life, sacrifices to the protective deities of the sea, and so on: there is nothing they do not sing about. The fishing songs carry a strong flavour of the sea; their tunes are as vast as the ocean and as beautiful as the spray of its waves. The melodious and lyrical “Li Li Mei” tune is known in almost every household in the fishing village and is also renowned inside and outside the province. The “Li Li Mei” tune was approved by the national education commission and was included in junior high school music textbooks. The Lingao fishing songs are much favoured by writers and musicians. Here too there is a Liu Sanmei, whose singing brings plentiful production to Lingao. The well-known composer Lv Yuan came to Lingao to collect material, absorbed the beautiful melody of the fishing tune “Li Li Mei” and composed the film interlude “Xisha, Beloved Homeland”.
Li-li-mei tune
The most representative tune among the Lingao fishing songs; it is melodious and lyrical, is known in almost every household in the fishing village and is renowned inside and outside the province, and it was approved by the national education commission and included in junior high school music textbooks.
Beach song contest
On nights when the sky is high and the moon is bright, adult unmarried men and women gather on the beach for song contests and the singing of “fishermen's songs at dusk” rises and falls on all sides; the fishing grounds and the village meeting places are everywhere places for singing contests.
Xisha, Beloved Homeland
A film interlude composed by the well-known composer Lv Yuan after he came to Lingao to collect material and absorbed the beautiful melody of the fishing tune “Li Li Mei”.
Segregated lodges and antiphonal singing
Fishermen are accustomed to living by the sea, and adult unmarried men and women have a custom of living in groups; the places where they congregate are called the “men's lodge” and the “women's lodge”, and it is within this custom that antiphonal singing takes place.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Lingao fishing song is represented by the “Li Li Mei” tune, and several other fishing-song tunes circulate side by side in the coastal fishing villages; out of the custom by which young men and women congregate in the “men's lodge” and the “women's lodge” there grew the tradition of beach song contests, with songs drifting with the boats on the voyage out and singing contests continuing in the fishing grounds and the village meeting places after the return, forming a fishing-village custom in which song serves as the medium and song conveys feeling.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For the renown of its fishing songs, Lingao County was awarded the title “Hometown of Chinese Folk Art” by the Ministry of Culture in 2003, and in November 2007 it won first prize at the China Fishing Song Invitational Tournament held in the Zhoushan Archipelago; in recent years, because of the impact of fashionable popular music, it has suffered a shortage of successors, and in 2008 it was entered on the intangible cultural heritage list of Hainan Province.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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