Songs of the Southern Peoples

Introduction

Hill songs, love songs and antiphonal singing of the Miao, Zhuang, Yi, Yao, She, Bai and other southern peoples

Songs of the southern peoples is the umbrella for the folk songs of the peoples of southwestern and south-central China, among them the Miao, Yao, She, Zhuang, Yi, Bai, Lisu, Li, Buyi, Tujia, Gelao, Derung and Blang, together with the Dong pipa songs. They are mostly improvised and sung in exchange in the hills, at festivals and at song fairs, and love songs make up the greater part. The main traditions include the Liu Sanjie songs (I-23), Miao folk song with its 'flying songs' (II-109), the Yi haicai tune (II-31), She folk song (II-7), the Bai songs of Jianchuan (II-164) and the Zhuang liao songs (I-82); twenty-two items are on the national list. In the Southern Song, Lu You recorded that the peoples of Chen, Yuan and Jing prefectures 'when drunk, gather men and women and stamp and sing'; and in the early Qing, Qu Dajun's New Words on Guangdong called Liu Sanmei 'the first maker of songs'.

Timeline

1. 1190OriginIn the Southern Song, Lu You's Notes from the Hall of Old Learning (volume four) records that among the Geling, Geliao, Shanyao and other peoples of Chen, Yuan and Jing prefectures 'when drunk, men and women gather and stamp and sing', and that in the slack farming season one or two hundred of them 'sing holding hands'; he quotes one of their songs, 'Little lady, flower beneath the leaves', and calls it 'of the Bamboo Branch kind': the earliest reliable record of the songs of the southern peoples.
2. 1678EvolutionQu Dajun's New Words on Guangdong, completed in 1678, records Liu Sanmei, a woman of Xinxing 'said to be the first maker of songs', who travelled among the hill settlements of Guangdong and Guangxi making songs in the voice of each people, and who sang in exchange with a youth of Baihe on a hilltop for seven days and nights while Yao, Zhuang and other peoples gathered round to listen.
3. 1960ImpactIn 1959 troupes across Guangxi staged Liu Sanjie in caidiao and other local forms, and in 1960 the Changchun Film Studio filmed Third Sister Liu at Guilin with songs based on the caidiao version, making Zhuang hill songs known throughout the country.
4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 the Liu Sanjie songs (I-23), She folk song (II-7), the Tujia luo'er tunes of Shizhu (II-15), Lisu folk song (II-17), Dong pipa song (II-29), the Yi haicai tune (II-31) and the Zhuang folk songs of Napo (II-32) entered the first national list, with the Zhuang song fair (X-46) listed in the same batch under folk custom.

Heritage Listings

1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: I-23 Liu Sanjie songs · II-7 She folk song · II-15 Tujia luo'er tunes of Shizhu · II-17 Lisu folk song · II-29 Dong pipa song · II-31 Yi haicai tune · II-32 Zhuang folk songs of Napo
2. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: I-62 Buyi riddle songs · I-82 Zhuang liao songs · II-109 Miao folk song · Western Hunan Miao song and Miao flying song · II-110 Yao folk song · Huayao wuwa hill song · II-111 Li folk song · II-112 Buyi folk song · Haohuahong tune · II-113 Yi folk song · Yi drinking songs · II-114 Blang folk song · Blang plucked-string singing
3. 2008National ICH extension items2008: II-7 She folk song
4. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · 2011: I-112 Tujia bridal lament songs · I-113 Poya love songs
5. 2011National ICH extension items2011: II-7 She folk song · II-29 Dong pipa song · II-109 Miao flying song · II-113 Yi hill songs
6. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: II-156 Tujia folk song · II-164 Bai songs of Jianchuan
7. 2014National ICH extension items2014: II-109 Miao folk song · II-110 Yao folk song
8. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · 2021: II-176 Gelao folk song · II-177 Derung folk song · II-187 Ashuse