MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Ditties and Popular Tunes (Xiaodiao)

One little tune, sung north and south

Introduction

Town and village ditties and the Ming–Qing popular tunes, from Guazhi'er to Jasmine Flower

Xiaodiao, also called xiaoqu or suqu, are the folk songs sung for leisure and at festivals in towns and villages: regular in form, mostly strophic, often accompanied by sanxian, erhu or flute, with types such as the five-watches song, the twelve-months song, the embroidered-pouch song and the lantern and flower-drum tunes. From the mid-Ming, popular tunes such as Suo nanzhi, Shanpo yang and Guazhi'er spread across north and south; Feng Menglong compiled the Guazhi'er anthology, and the Qing produced the Nichang xupu (1795) and Baixue yiyin. Living traditions include Fengyang folk song (II-140, whose Fresh Flower Tune is Jasmine Flower), Liaozhai liqu (II-22), the Haizhou five great modes (II-41), the five great tunes of southern Shandong (II-103) and the Han ditties of Qinghai (II-146).

Timeline

Mid-Ming (c. 1500) to present
1500 · OriginShen Defu's Wanli yehuo bian, in its note on fashionable ditties, records that after the Xuande–Zhengtong and Chenghua–Hongzhi reigns the Central Plains took up tunes such as Suo nanzhi, Bang zhuangtai and Shanpo yang; under Jiajing and Longqing came Nao wugeng, Jisheng cao, Tongcheng ge and Yin niusi, and lately Da zaogan and Guazhi'er, which everyone learned, 'north or south, man or woman'.1609 · EvolutionAround 1609 Feng Menglong completed the popular-song anthology Guazhi'er (also titled Tongchi yinong) in ten juan, with 435 songs, mainly the ditties of the Suzhou area; it was printed in the Wanli period.1795 · EvolutionIn 1795, the sixtieth year of Qianlong, the Beijing singing troupes pooled money to print the song texts collected by the Tianjin-born singing master Yan Zide, edited by Wang Tingshao as the Nichang xupu in eight juan of xidiao and miscellaneous tunes.1804 · ImpactIn 1804 John Barrow of the Macartney embassy published in Europe the Jasmine Flower tune he had noted down in 1793, making it one of the first Chinese folk songs widely known abroad; in the same year Hua Guangsheng completed the song anthology Baixue yiyin (printed 1828; 839 songs, mostly in the matou tune).
  1. 1500OriginShen Defu's Wanli yehuo bian, in its note on fashionable ditties, records that after the Xuande–Zhengtong and Chenghua–Hongzhi reigns the Central Plains took up tunes such as Suo nanzhi, Bang zhuangtai and Shanpo yang; under Jiajing and Longqing came Nao wugeng, Jisheng cao, Tongcheng ge and Yin niusi, and lately Da zaogan and Guazhi'er, which everyone learned, 'north or south, man or woman'.
  2. 1609EvolutionAround 1609 Feng Menglong completed the popular-song anthology Guazhi'er (also titled Tongchi yinong) in ten juan, with 435 songs, mainly the ditties of the Suzhou area; it was printed in the Wanli period.
  3. 1795EvolutionIn 1795, the sixtieth year of Qianlong, the Beijing singing troupes pooled money to print the song texts collected by the Tianjin-born singing master Yan Zide, edited by Wang Tingshao as the Nichang xupu in eight juan of xidiao and miscellaneous tunes.
  4. 1804ImpactIn 1804 John Barrow of the Macartney embassy published in Europe the Jasmine Flower tune he had noted down in 1793, making it one of the first Chinese folk songs widely known abroad; in the same year Hua Guangsheng completed the song anthology Baixue yiyin (printed 1828; 839 songs, mostly in the matou tune).

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-13 Yazhou folk song · no. 44 · nominated by Sanya · Hainan
  2. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-22 Liaozhai liqu (Pu Songling's ballads) · no. 53 · nominated by Zibo · Shandong
  3. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · II-41 Haizhou five great modes · no. 72 · nominated by Lianyungang · Jiangsu
  4. 2008National list extension2nd batch · II-13 Yazhou folk song · Ledong Li Autonomous County · Hainan
  5. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-74 Changli folk song · no. 573 · nominated by Changli County · Hebei
  6. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-75 Gaoyou folk song · no. 574 · nominated by Gaoyou · Jiangsu
  7. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-76 Wuhe folk song · no. 575 · nominated by Wuhe County · Anhui
  8. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-78 Huizhou folk song · no. 577 · nominated by Huangshan · Anhui
  9. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-84 Xiushan folk song · no. 583 · nominated by Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County · Chongqing
  10. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-88 Nanping quzi · no. 587 · nominated by Jiuzhaigou County · Sichuan
  11. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-103 Five great tunes of southern Shandong · no. 602 · nominated by Tancheng County and Rizhao · Shandong
  12. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · II-104 Laohekou sixian · no. 603 · nominated by Laohekou · Hubei
  13. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · II-140 Fengyang folk song · no. 1070 · nominated by Chuzhou · Anhui
  14. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · II-142 Lichuan lantern songs · no. 1072 · nominated by Lichuan · Hubei
  15. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · II-146 Han folk ditties of Qinghai · no. 1076 · nominated by Xining · Qinghai
  16. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · II-159 Xunyang folk song · no. 1253 · nominated by Xunyang County · Shaanxi
  17. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · II-174 Jiahe bridal-companion songs · no. 1388 · nominated by Jiahe County · Chenzhou · Hunan
  18. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · II-179 Ganzhou ditties · no. 1393 · nominated by Ganzhou District · Zhangye · Gansu