Customs of Folk Music

Playing Lianhang, also known as Playing Flower Stick, Money Whip, and Overlord Whip, is a popular folk song and dance in the north. The dancers dress up as Dan and Chou and perform with a whip in their hands. Qing dynasty Mao Qiling "West River Words": "Jin made Qingle, imitating the system of Liao Dale, there is the so-called Lianzhang words, with singing and acting". Folk painters in the Qing Dynasty painted "Beijing folk customs" in the "playing Lianxiang", the text description is: "This Chinese playing Lianxiang of the figure. The person is a troupe of excellent [actress] dressed as a woman, holding a bamboo board, colorful fan, with a bamboo pole, digging small holes, and several copper coins, called the king whip, in the hands of the flying, or bamboo board on the independent, mouth singing lyrics, the name is 'playing Lianxiang'".

Flower drums are popular folk songs and dances in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It originated in Fengyang, Anhui Province. The earliest farmers in the field rice-planting, drumming singing, and later more common form of performance is a man and a woman, men beat small boring gong, women play small flower drums, singing and dancing, sometimes accompanied by other musical instruments. According to the Qing Dynasty Li Dou "Yangzhou painting boat record" records, the early flower drums "syllables are mournful, mesmerizing". And according to Zhao Yi "new Yu Jungkao": "Jiangsu counties, every year in winter there will be Fengyang people, young and old, men and women, scattered into the village begging for food, ...... its singing is said to 'live in Luzhou and Fengyang, Fengyang was a good place. Since the Zhu Emperor, ten years down nine years of barren '". Early Qing dynasty people gu see dragon had drawn "flower drum" singing map. In the twenty-fourth year of the Qianlong reign (1759), Xu Yang painted the picture of the "Sheng Shi Zi Sheng Tu", in which there was a colorful stage in Suzhou, on which a play from the Ming Dynasty legend "The Story of the Red Plum" was being performed - "Playing the Flower Drums", which was a popular "current drama" for the masses at that time.

The Taiping drums. Originally a form of song and dance for the Manchu people to offer sacrifices and pray for blessings, it was later used for folk entertainment and spread to Beijing and other parts of northern China. Performers hold the Taiping Drum, while beating, singing and dancing. Taiping drum form, according to xu ke "qing barnyard class notes": "the year drum, iron for the circle, wood for the handle, handle tie iron ring, circle bubble to skin, hit the winter winter, the name Taiping drum. Beijing Shi waxing month, children's music also". Northeast region of the taiping drum singing absorbed folk songs, two people turn, Northeast drum tunes, lively performance form. There are also many elderly women in the suburbs of Beijing who play the drums. In the Qing Dynasty, both the court and the people performed the Taiping Drum on New Year's Eve and the Lantern Festival, seeking the auspicious meaning of "Taiping". He Er of the Qing Dynasty wrote in Yan Tai Zh Zh Zhi Zi: "The iron ring vibrates the drums, dancing in groups as the year draws to a close, and it is said that there is an image of peace, and the sound of the Qu song is the same as that of the Yan song". In the seventh year of the Qing Dynasty (1742), Ding Guanpeng painted "Taiping Spring Market", and in the Qing Dynasty, Yang Liuqing woodblock prints "Taiping World" and "Taiping Drums" reflected the scenes of the Taiping Drums' performances at that time.

The Miao, Yao, Yi ("Luo Luo"), Dai ("Golden-toothed Baiyi"), Jingpo, Zhuang ("Nongren", "Sha", "Zhongjia", "Tujia", etc.), Lisu, Hani, Lahu, Bai, Nu, Naxi, Wa ("Gura", "Hara", "Hara", "Hara", "Hara", etc.). ", "Hawa") and other brother ethnic groups can sing and dance well, and have colorful music and dance activities. These activities are closely related to their production and labor, living customs, and their styles are simple and ancient, preserving the rich ethnic characteristics. For example, the Miao people have "jumping moon" and Lusheng dance. Lusheng is popular in the southwestern ethnic areas and has a long history, known as "Lusha" (see Fan Chengda's "Guihai Yuheng Zhi" and Zhou Zhaifei's "Lingwai Daiqian" in the Southern Song Dynasty). Miao people have song and dance activities, often accompanied by reed-sheng. According to the Ming Ni chariot "Nanzhao wild history", the Miao people in Dianzhong, "every year in the spring jumping month, the male blowing reed-sheng, female vibration bells sing and dance side by side, all day long". There are Miao music and dance diagrams in the Qing-engraved books such as Guangyuishengwan. In the picture, it is stated that the Miao people "choose a flat land for the moon field in the spring of every year, and the men play the reed-sheng and the women shake the bells, and sing and dance in circles, which is called jumping to the moon".

The Yi, then known as "Luo Luo", also used to play the reed-sheng, flute, mouth-string (also known as "harmonica", "ringing gimlet"), singing and dancing for entertainment. In the Qing Daoguang period, the General Records of Yunnan quoted from the Qing Tribute Chart: "Man and" (a branch of the Yi ethnic group at that time) "like to sing and drink, and the men play bamboo shengs while the women play gimbaled zither, which is very pleasant to listen to". The Pu'er Prefecture Records published during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty: "The Limi" (another branch of the Yi at that time) "slaughtered animals and wished to the gods every year after the fall, and sang and danced with the sheng, which was called the sacrifice of crops". In the Qing Dynasty, the Yi murals in Weishan, Yunnan Province, have a picture of songs under the trees, reflecting the Yi people blowing reed-shengs and flutes, and gathering under the trees to sing and dance.

The Qing people also painted the Dong pipa song singing picture. The performers use the Dong pipa to accompany and improvise various short love songs or tunes on other subjects. This is a popular form of singing in the Dong region since the Qing Dynasty.

The Naxi region in northwestern Yunnan, the old popular Dongba religion. This is a primitive witchcraft, witch called "Dongba". This religion believes in mountains, water, wind, fire and other natural phenomena, thought the gods. Lijiang also preserved the Dongba scroll "Shen Lu Tu", in which there is a picture of Dingba Shiluo, the ancestor of Dongba religion. In the portrait below the painting of the Dongba music and dance. Among them, several people play trumpets, horns, conch and other musical instruments, and several people dance with long swords, one-sided cymbals and drums. It reflects the image of ancient Naxi people's songs and dances.

Tibet Qing Dynasty cloth painting (colored satin mounted scroll painting) "Sangye Monastery" music and dance picture. Sangye Monastery is on the north bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Zhalang County, Shannan, Tibet. The picture is the temple inauguration ceremony, people singing and dancing joyful scene. There are also people playing musical instruments such as trumpets, sacred drums and cymbals. The Ming painted "Xianzong Xingle Tu Scroll" shows the performance of songs and dances during the Lantern Festival in the capital city of Ming Xianzong in the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Chenghua (1485), which is of the nature of a walking meeting. One of the images depicted Zhong Kui, in front of five people playing music, holding instruments for rolling zither, clapboard, pipa, sheng, pipe. Another picture of four people on the bamboo horse, holding a sword and gun show. In the center, three people are holding flat drums, flutes, and clappers to accompany the dance.

The Qing Dynasty, the "go will" games in the north more common, is a common folk art form, more in traditional festivals, such as the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival or during the temple fair activities. Mainly perform folk dance, and acrobatics, martial arts, is a variety of folk skills complex. The Yanjing Times and Times Records recorded: "the past will be (walking will be) is the capital travelers, dressed as open road, in the flag, carrying boxes official child, five tiger stick, cross drums, cymbals, stilts, rice-planting songs, Shibuyao, juggling altar, juggling lions and so on, such as in the case of the city god out of the patrols and temples, etc., singing anywhere, the viewer such as a blockade". Qing Jiaqing twenty years (1815) painted in Beijing, "Miao Fengshan temple fair map" in the walk will be the scene -: a number of people dressed as Peking opera characters. Performing martial arts moves, accompanied by musicians. The Qing Dynasty painted "Beijing Walking Fairs" and Tianjin "Tianhougong over the meeting" is more vividly depicted a variety of walking fair program performance image.

Funeral music is a kind of customary music with a long history, and its forms are varied according to the times and regions. Rulers and the rich and powerful people to do funeral, pay attention to the rehearsal, to invite monks, Taoist priests to do the funeral dojo, there is a set of funeral rituals. In some places, night songs, funeral songs, funeral songs, but also invited the drumming team, playing gongs and drums and "funeral tune". The folk "drum room" and "kong room" specialized in recruiting folk artists and organizing bands to undertake such matters. The funeral rituals of the upper class people in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty were very complicated and had different specifications according to their status. Existing Qing Dynasty Beijing funeral procession map a, up the bar thirty-two people, the coffin before the ceremony is a dozens of people in the queue, in the middle of the two groups of bands in the marching band playing.

Wedding ceremonies are also accompanied by bands. In the 24th year of the Qianlong period (1759), Xu Yang painted "Sheng Shi Zi Sheng Tu", there is a wedding scene, a pair of couples in the hall to worship the elders, under the steps of the drummers and blowers for music; another picture in the picture is the city of suzhou, the river in the area of the lower pond, there is a colorful boat, carrying a sedan chair. Forward boat with writing "Hanlin Academy", "Scholar and the first" characters of the standing lamp, seems to be the Scholar's House to welcome the bride ship. Color boat alongside the boat with more than ten people on the drums and bands to accompany it.

Category: Ming and Qing Dynasty

Era: Qing Dynasty