Liangdang Work Songs

01 · Historical Records

Liangdang lies in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains and was historically a corridor linking Qinlong with Bashu. After the White Lotus Society uprising failed, several hundred thousand soldiers and officers in succession withdrew into the great Qinling mountains at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan. Because their ancestral homes were mostly in the Two Lakes and Two Guangs, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces, the Qing government called them "Chuanchu pengmin" (shelter people of Sichuan and Chu), while local residents called them "Huguangguang". Liangdang haozi are sung in the "Huguangguang" register, and became an important component of the shelter people's culture.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Liangdang lies in the Qinling mountain area of southeastern Gansu Province at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan, long known as "the shield of Qinlong and the throat of Bashu", and its naturally favourable conditions made possible the emergence and spread of Liangdang haozi. The "hua haozi" is in five-tone mode. Apart from a few particles, there is not a single word from beginning to end: the singer relies entirely on the voice to complete a fixed melody and express different feelings and artistic conceptions, with a soaring and impassioned vocal line, a powerful momentum and tremendous penetrating force. The main melodic modes are three: yu, zhi and shang. "Wannian Hua" wishes that a beautiful life may bloom like a flower for ten thousand years and flourish forever; "Changlu Yin" instead expresses the melancholy and helplessness of leaving home to set out on a long journey and the longing for a settled and happy life; "Ji Gong Haozi" depicts one rooster breaking the dawn and a hundred roosters answering, calling the men out to hunt at daybreak. "Pai haozi" are found in Liangdang and the neighbouring cities and counties; the singing forms and lyrics differ, but the melodies are basically the same. "Pai haozi" are mostly sets of labour chants or mountain songs, with lyrics, structured with antithesis. They are sung with lively expression and witty, humorous words, mostly to express feelings about life or to keep the rhythm, making people forget their fatigue and raise work efficiency. In "Daluogucao", for example, the rhythm is striking and the lyrics are in plain speech. When it is sung, one or two singers carry drums on their backs, beating and singing at the field edge, while the others form a line and weed with a unified step. Liangdang haozi are an important component of "pengmin culture". Within Liangdang haozi, "pai haozi" is a product of the fusion of the shelter people's homeland culture with Longnan culture, while "hua haozi" was an important means for the shelter people to pass information to one another and express their feelings. Singing haozi is called "he", teaching haozi is called "diu", and learning haozi is called "jian". In the slack season or at festivals, old singers "diu" and young people "jian"; it is taught by oral instruction and mind to mind, and whenever one has learned it, one is said to have "picked it up". Liangdang haozi carry the historical memory of the shelter people and bear specific characteristics of their age. They are important material for understanding the history and culture of the shelter people and fill a gap in the documentary record. Its song is far-carrying, unpolished, and full of penetrating force; without a single word it can convey various emotions and information, giving it extremely high artistic and aesthetic value. It is a product of the fusion of the cultures of many ethnic groups and a testimony to the harmonious coexistence of the various ethnic groups in the region of transmission, and it plays a positive role in strengthening cohesion among them.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Liangdang haozi are a folk singing art distributed throughout Liangdang County of Longnan City, Gansu Province, and its neighbouring cities and counties. Liangdang haozi are sung in the characteristic "Huguangguang" register, and according to the differences in singing form and content are divided into two types, "hua haozi" and "pai haozi". "Hua haozi" are found in Yunping Town, Guangjin Work Station, Zhan'erxiang Town and Taishan Township, those densely forested mountain areas. In this area everyone is good at singing; men and women, old and young, can all sing mountain songs, hum little ditties and chant haozi. Most of the shelter people of Liangdang County were routed soldiers of the White Lotus Society and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprisings, together with orphans, widows and disaster victims who survived the wars. According to the county gazetteers of Feng County and Hui County, after the White Lotus Society uprising failed, several hundred thousand soldiers and officers in succession withdrew into the great Qinling mountains at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan; because their ancestral homes were mostly in the Two Lakes and Two Guangs, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces, the Qing government called them "Chuanchu pengmin", while local residents called them "Huguangguang".

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Liangdang haozi are generally transmitted through master-and-apprentice succession. At present, the clearly documented lineage of transmission of Liangdang haozi has reached four generations.

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Liangdang Work Songs (Longnanshiliangdang, Gansu) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗