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Liu Sanjie
The song immortal of Guangxi and southern folk legend, said to have sung mountain songs and spoken through song; first named in the Southern Song Yudi jisheng, her song tradition is national intangible heritage.
Mural of the cultural record “Songs of the Southern Peoples”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Liu Sanmei · Song Immortal
- Roles
- Cultural Persona
Liu Sanjie, also called Liu Sanmei, is the song immortal of folk legend in Guangxi, Guangdong and neighbouring regions. She is first named in Wang Xiangzhi's Southern Song gazetteer Yudi jisheng; in the early Qing, Qu Dajun's Guangdong xinyu says she was by tradition the first maker of songs and was born in the reign of Tang Zhongzong. Legend has her singing mountain songs and speaking her mind through song, with many local variants. The Liu Sanjie folk songs, nominated by Yizhou in Guangxi, are on the national list of representative intangible cultural heritage (I-23). In 1960 the Changchun Film Studio made the musical feature film Liu Sanjie from the legend. This entry registers a cultural persona, not a historically verified individual.
Life and times
Dates First attested in the Southern Song Yudi jisheng; the early Qing Guangdong xinyu places her, by legend, in the reign of Tang Zhongzong