Fishing Songs

01 · Historical Records

According to documentary records, Shanwei fishermen's songs began to be sung in the Song dynasty, spread widely along the coast in the Yuan and Ming periods, and reached their height in the Qing dynasty, spreading from the coast into the interior. In the 1920s the folklorist Zhong Jingwen collected and organized Shanwei fishermen's songs and compiled them into the Egg Songs, which were published in 1927. Huang Chen, known as the "king of fishermen's songs", began in the 1950s to collect and record large numbers of fishermen's songs and published the Fishermen's Songs of Eastern Guangdong. In 1958 the composer Shi Mingxin helped to establish the Shanwei Fishermen's Song Troupe and composed the suite "Fisherwomen's Fishing Team Suite". In the 1980s Shanwei fishermen's songs were included in the Collection of Chinese Folk Songs.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Shanwei fishermen's songs are narrative and lyrical folk songs improvised and sung by Ouchuan boat fishermen in the course of production and life; they are the "companion" of Ouchuan boat fishermen's long life at sea, and they circulate mainly in Shanwei City of Guangdong Province, as well as in places such as Huidong County of Huizhou City and Huilai County of Jieyang City. Ouchuan boat fishermen are fishermen who migrated south from the north during the Song and Yuan periods, and they live mainly within the jurisdiction of Shanwei City in eastern Guangdong. Shanwei fishermen's songs touch on every aspect of the production and life of Ouchuan boat fishermen and their content is broad. Some reflect the sufferings of the old society, such as "Lament of the Water Village" and "From Now On I Follow Father to Haul the Lift-Net"; some reflect labour and production, such as "Spinning Thread Song" and "Fishermen's Proverbs of the Twelve Months"; some reflect love, such as "Bride Song" and "Sister Is the Sail's Cable, Brother Is the Sail"; some reflect ethics and morality, such as "Song of the Teaching Nun" and "Song of the Adopted Son"; some reflect conduct in dealing with others, such as "Song of Advice to the World" and "Song of Sense and Reason"; some reflect folk customs and ways of life, such as "Song of the Monthly Ordinances" and "Song of Eating Vegetable Dishes". The melodies of Shanwei fishermen's songs are beautiful, with relatively small ranges, moving chiefly by step, and excelling in beauty and lyricism. Their rhythms are flexible, like the light ripple of seawater, presenting a calm and gentle style; they belong to the xiaodiao, or small tune, category of folk songs. When sung, "the vocal line follows the words and the words lead the vocal line", with such interjections as "lie", "duo" and "na" often used as padding syllables in between. Shanwei fishermen's songs are full of a maritime atmosphere; they often take fish, shrimp, boats, sails, rudders, the colour of seawater and the shape of sea waves as the opening image or the simile of their lyrics. Fitting new words to an existing tune is an important expressive technique of Shanwei fishermen's songs, and it is common for one tune to carry different words and for one tune to be sung in several ways. Many composers have collected material in Shanwei and have used fishermen's songs as the basis for songs such as "Night of the Naval Port" and "The Fisherman's Girl by the Sea".

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The language of Shanwei fishermen's songs is the Southern Min dialect (Hoklo), with a marked character and an extremely strong flavour of colloquial and vernacular speech; the language is plain and popular, lively and active, close to everyday life and deeply meaningful.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Fishing Songs · Fishing Songs.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Fishermen along the coastal areas of Shanwei City all sing Shanwei fishermen's songs, which are transmitted by families and from master to apprentice. Shanwei fishermen's songs have a long history and rich content in many forms; they are of considerable value for studying the development history of Chinese folk songs and the social development history of Ouchuan boat fishermen, they are widely loved by the people of the areas in which they circulate, and they play a positive role in promoting community harmony, strengthening cultural identity and enriching the cultural life of the people. Su Shaoqin (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, Han, born in February 1941, native of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province. She was born into an Ouchuan boat family on the water at Shanwei Xingang (Fangrong Township). Influenced by her family from early childhood and hearing and seeing it constantly, she began at the age of four or five to learn fishermen's song singing from her mother Xu Yuechun and her aunt Su Shaoqin, mastering the melodies of fishermen's songs and acquiring the skill of improvising words to sing them. At the age of 16 she began to take part in fishermen's song performances. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the fishermen's songs (Shanwei fishermen's songs) intangible cultural heritage project. In the decades that followed she entered many competitions and repeatedly won awards. For many years she has warmly trained young fishermen's song singers and enthusiasts of fishermen's songs.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Su Shaoqin 05-2173
• Shu Xinhu

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Fishing Songs (Shanwei, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Su Shaoqin · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗