Characteristics of Ancient Poetry Chanting in Hakka Language

In July 2014, at the 14th (Meijiang District) Hundred Poets Poetry Conference in Meizhou City, Zheng Xinmiao, president of the Chinese Poetry Society (former vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and president of the Palace Museum), said, "The state attaches great importance to the inheritance and development of poetry chanting. Chanting is a traditional way for Chinese people to communicate their poems and a way of cultural transmission. Hakka is a living fossil of the ancient Chinese language, and for the first time I heard poetry recited in the original Zhongzhou dialect, Hakka. The southern Hakka dialect, which preserves the poetic style of the past, is very appreciated." The central leadership's affirmation of the recitation of ancient poems in Hakka language has given us great encouragement.

Ancient people compose poems to chant. Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty, "Suiyuan Poetry" cloud: "The text is said to be made, the poem is said to be chanted, so you can know that the syllables can not be spoken." Chanting is the traditional recitation of Chinese poetry, but also the method of creating poetry, is China's outstanding intangible cultural heritage. 2010 January 24, in Beijing established the Chinese chanting society (Chinese language modernization society chanting branch), aims to rescue, research, inheritance, development of chanting culture. Hakka chanting is an important part of Chinese chanting, and its most important feature is that it retains the ancient Chinese phonetics, which is valued by the Chinese Chanting Society. since 2011, the Hakka chanting group of South China Normal University and the Chinese Chanting Society have made special trips to Meizhou to research and record Hakka chanting. Seventy years ago, my teacher, Mr. Pan Yaoqian, used to teach us to recite poems of the Tang and Song dynasties in Hakka dialect before and after class. One of the poems I remember the most:

The water in the duck pond is shallow and deep, and the weather in the ripe plum is half sunny and cloudy.

The East Garden is filled with wine and the West Garden is drunk, and the loquat tree is full of gold.

(Song - Dai Min, "Early Summer in Zhang Yuan")

The recitation of ancient poems has a history of more than 2,000 years since the pre-Qin Dynasty. The basic rules are to follow the words, follow the meaning of the tune, narrow the short and long the long and long the false words. Not only do they read each word correctly, but they also interpret the meaning completely and profoundly.

1, according to the word line cavity

Chanting strictly according to the word line cavity, not only to read each word accurately, but also the meaning of the expression of the clear; singing is different, can be inverted word, that is, the direction of the melodic intervals in the song and the word of the tone of the voice is different: the tone of the word upward to the downward, or the tone of the word to the downward to the upward singing, the word according to the cavity line up. For example, the lyrics of the 1930s movie interlude "Song of the Four Seasons" are "Spring comes and the willow fills the window, ......". Chanting as "spring, the arrival of the willow, full of windows -", according to the word line, chanting the word correctly. But the singing is different, the word according to the cavity line, according to the tune of the rhythm of the song "season" "come" "full" were sung as "Kiribati " "Lai" "Man".

2, oblique short flat long (into the short rhyme long)

Chanting, oblique words (including the upper sound, go, into the sound) to be short; flat words (yinping, yangping) to be long bright and broad, and even rhyme to drag a long lift. As in the example above, "come" "window".

3, according to the righteousness of the tune

The so-called according to the righteousness of the tune, that is, in accordance with the meaning of the poem to arrange the chanting of the tone of the mood, light and heavy, happiness, anger, sadness and joy, that is, according to the mood and the size of the good and bad things to speak. For example, Li Bai's Early departure from Baidi City:

The Baidi colorful clouds, thousands of miles of Jiangling one day back.

The apes on both sides of the river can't stop crying, and the light boat has already crossed ten thousand mountains.

This is Li Bai was exiled on the way to Yelang, arrived in Baidi City, when the amnesty created. He was in a very happy mood, and the poem was written in a smooth and elegant manner, natural and heavenly. So the chanting should be done in a melodious and light tone, and the meaning should be interpreted completely and delicately.

4, chanting is different from recitation. Recitation is different from recitation. Recitation is said to others with voice, only rhythm, no melody, it is a public performance; chanting is read with music, rhythm, melody, it is self-study, appreciation.

5, chanting has no fixed tune, its tone applies to all poetry. Chanting is reading to oneself, is artistic reading, is the art of life; song is a word with a song, sung for others to hear, is the entertainment or appreciation of life, is the art of performance.

Chanting is an important way for the ancients to learn and create poetry for themselves, and it has the effect of benefiting from wisdom, cultivating one's body and mind, being enterprising, enjoying one's feelings, and strengthening one's body. Now more than 70 years old, most of the old people have heard the teacher chanting Tang poetry, and even shake their heads. After the founding of the PRC, this kind of chanting accent was lost. Since the reform and opening up, with the revival of Chinese poetry, some old people still occasionally chant. 2008, the Central Propaganda Department, the Central Office of Spiritual Civilization, the State Language Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, six ministries and commissions jointly issued a call to carry out activities for the recitation of Chinese classics. Rescue, research, inheritance, development of Hakka language chanting, imminent.

(March 20, 2017 at Golden Grass Studio)

(Meizhou Daily 2017-04-29)