An Overview of the Cultural Connotation of the Zhuang People

The Zhuang language is one of the great languages of China, with a population of about 20 million or more speakers (including the Buyei and Dai-Nung languages). The Zhuang language belongs to the Dong-Tai (Zhuang-Dong) branch of the Tai-Gadai language family (Zhuang-Dai branch), and has very close affinity with Thai, Laotian, Dai, Shan and other languages, and some foreign scholars refer to the Zhuang language as the "Northern Thai" language. The northern dialects of Zhuang and Buyei belong to the northern group of the Tai branch, while the southern dialects of Zhuang and the Dai-Nung language of Vietnam belong to the central group of the Tai branch. In addition, Thai, Lao, Dai and Shan form the southwest group of the Taiwanese branch.

The Zhuang language is still commonly used in the rural areas and some towns inhabited by the Zhuang people, but the Zhuang language has not been popularized so far for various reasons; nowadays, some of the Zhuang people living in some counties and cities have switched to using Chinese as their daily language, but the proportion of the urban Zhuang people in the total population of the Zhuang people is not large, and on the whole, those who use the Zhuang language as their mother tongue still account for more than 90% of the population of the Zhuang people. At the same time, more and more young Zhuang have learned to use Chinese fluently and have become bilingual. The name of the bank and the denomination written in Zhuang script are printed on the yuan.

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Strong Medicine

Strong medicine began to sprout in the pre-Qin period of grass-creation, through the development of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties, and around the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, it has roughly formed the multi-level structure of Zhuang medicine with more than 10 kinds of connotations, such as herbal medicine for internal use, external cleansing, fumigation, compresses, peperidine, bone scraping, angular therapy, moxibustion, picking needles, and golden needles, etc, and it has gradually had the embryonic type of theories.

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Strong brocade

The traditional hand-woven brocade of the Zhuang people in China. It is rumored to have originated in the Song Dynasty. Cotton, linen thread for the ground warp and weft plain interweaving, with coarse and no flick of silk for the color weft woven into the starting flower, the formation of symmetrical patterns on the front and back of the fabric, and will be completely covered by the ground organization, increasing the thickness of the fabric. Its color contrast is strong, the pattern is mostly diamond-shaped geometric pattern, the structure is rigorous and rich in changes, with a rich and rugged artistic style. It is used to make clothes and skirts, towels and quilts, backpacks, tablecloths and so on. The main places of origin are Jingxi, Xincheng, Binyang and other counties in Guangxi. The traditional patterns are mainly two dragons playing beads, back to the pattern, water, clouds, flowers, animals and so on more than 20 kinds, in recent years, there are "Guilin landscape", "national unity" and so on more than 80 kinds of new patterns, rich in ethnic styles.

The Zhuang is a nation with a long history. In ancient times, the Zhuang were called Slang, Bureaucrats, Bengs and Tu, and were renamed Boys only from the Song Dynasty onwards, and are now renamed Zhuang again.

Strong brocade

The Zhuang have a very ancient history and have been living in Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and parts of Hunan in southwestern China for generations. Zhuang brocade, also known as "boy brocade" and "velvet quilt", is thicker. Known as one of China's four brocades Zhuang brocade is the national cultural treasure of Guangxi, this use of cotton or silk thread woven from the exquisite handicrafts, vivid patterns, strict structure, colorful, full of warm, cheerful national style, reflecting the Zhuang people's pursuit of a better life and yearning. Guangxi Tongzhi: "Zhuang brocade states and counties out of the Zhuang people love color, where the clothes and skirts and towels are the genus do not take the five-color velvet, miscellaneous weaving for the flower and bird-like, far from the quite clever and dazzling, close-up view and coarse, the Zhuang people expensive."

The Zhuang brocade is in the hand loom equipped with a support system, transmission device, sub-hearing device and jacquard device, cotton yarn for the warp, to a variety of colored velvet for the weft, the use of through the warp and weft break the method of skillfully intertwined and become a work of art.

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Strong Fist

Strong Fist, Guangxi local fist, circulated in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Sets***Thirty-five sets, its sets are short and concise. Structural rigor, simple action, the fist just potential strength, under the plate steady, more short strikes, good standard palm, jumping leg less, in and out of the four doors for the path, often accompanied by the Zhuang language voice, through the sound of the help, to gas catalytic force. Practicing methods are mostly standing piles, hitting sandbags and tree stumps. "Inserting plantain", "grasping stone wiping hand", "walking plum blossom pile", "seven-step wire basic pile work" and other gong methods.

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Musical Art

Strong Folk Songs

The Zhuang folk songs are especially developed. The Zhuang people, both men and women, began to learn to sing songs in their childhood at the age of four or five, with fathers teaching their sons and mothers teaching their daughters, forming the custom of passing on songs to young people, young people singing, and old people teaching songs. In the countryside, whether it is down to the fields, up the hill to cut firewood, marriage, funeral, festivals or social love between young men and women, all use songs to express their feelings. In some places, even the conversations and quarrels between family members are also sometimes expressed in songs. Singing has become an indispensable part of the Zhuang people's life. Everyone can sing, everyone can sing. Therefore, the vast Zhuang countryside, known as the "sea of song" reputation. By the poet called "the land covered with keys". History, but also emerged a lot like Liu Sanjie, Huang Sandi, known as the "song fairy", "King of Song" of the famous singers.

The folk songs of the Zhuang people, in terms of the form, there are le foot song, platoon song, loose song and so on. Paik song is the free form of Zhuang poetry, each poem is only about one thing, sometimes up to

300 lines long. Long narrative poems are more famous, such as "Bubo", "Bluto", "Loud and Clear Song", "Song of the Horse Bone Hu", "Six Churches and Daqi", and "King Moyi", etc. Among them, "Loud and Clear Song" is the most famous one. Among them, the presentation of "Song of Loud and Clear" is more special. Instead of telling a complete story in a narrative way, it takes the annexation and war of the feudal lords as the background, and expresses the sad and happy feelings of a pair of young men and women through lyrical duet singing. The four stanzas are grouped together in a question-and-answer sequence, which is broken up into independent lyric poems and linked together to form a story poem with a beginning and an end.

The Zhuang folk songs are as vast as the sea of smoke, there are many kinds, from the content and form, there are mainly ancient songs, narrative songs, life songs, labor songs, songs of current affairs, ceremonial songs, love songs, nursery rhymes and so on. There are many folk songs in the Zhuang Township, but when they are sung, they have to abide by the agreed etiquette, and cannot be sung blindly and indiscriminately. Especially the current political songs, ceremonial songs and love songs, in what occasion to sing is a rule. For example, love songs can be sung to your heart's content in the wild song pueblo, but not at home, in front of your parents, or in the night song pueblo. Ceremonial songs, what to sing at sacrifices, what to sing at weddings, and what to sing at funerals, are all absolutely not to be reversed and messed up. Even the welcoming of different guests has different welcoming songs.

Song Wei

Strong song Wei

In the Zhuang language, song Wei have out of the song of the Pangdong Pangdong, the song of the mountain rock cave, slope Wei, Pangdong City and so on the name. More in the agricultural leisure or the Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals held in the mountain slopes. At that time, men and women, young and old in full costume to the meeting, fewer than a few hundred people, more than ten thousand people. Usually, young men and women sing songs to each other. There are also recreational activities such as throwing embroidered balls, touching colored eggs, and setting off firecrackers.

Song Wei is an ancient custom of the Zhuang people, with a wide range of mass and a long history. It is said that there was already a song dike in the Tang Dynasty. Such as the "Guangdong New Language" Volume VIII contained: "emerging women have Liu Sanmei, rumored to be the beginning of the song of the people, born in Tang Zhongzong (684 ~ 709) years, twelve years, drowning through the history, good for the song, thousands of miles within the name of the song to come to the person ...... tasted with the White Crane Township teenagers climbed the mountain and sang, Guangdong people and Yao ﹑ Boys species around the people and watch, men and women tens of hundreds of layers of the song. And watch, men and women dozens of hundreds of layers, salty thought fairy, seven days and nights singing sound unceasingly, all turned into stone." The Song Dynasty "Taiping Huan Yu Ji" volume of one hundred and sixty-three in the Douzhou Xinyi County and Zhaoshu Pingle County, the customs of the area contained in: "Valley ripening with the same take the Hundred Days for the wax, men and women in full dress, push the buns barefooted, gatherings for the song."

Song Wei generally held at festivals, such as: the Spring Festival, March 3, the Mid-Yuan Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, etc., there are also temporary formation of the song Wei. The scale of the song dike has a large and small, large song dike tens of thousands of people, small song dike also has hundreds of people. A large song dike often extends for two or three days, sung during the day for the day song dike, generally held outside the village on the slopes or in the fields; sung at night for the night song dike, held in the village. Whenever the song dike comes, the Zhuang young men and women will be dressed in costumes, with gifts, from all directions to the song field to concentrate on identifying singers. At noon or at nightfall when the climax of the song, mainly men and women sing to each other. There are group songs and two-person songs. Song content is very broad, including astronomy and geography, history and politics, production and life in all aspects, there are love songs, bitter songs, ancient songs, agricultural songs, flower songs, disk songs and so on.

Song Wei is the Zhuang people for cultural and recreational activities, but also unmarried young people singing love place. Song dike on the song is a highly refined language of life, with vivid, pure and simple, profound features, lyrics have rhyme, can sing, easy to remember, fugue ﹑ than ﹑ rise of the artistic techniques often used alternatively. Unmarried young people in the song on the free choice of the beloved partner, singing the time of love, they throw each other embroidered balls (some areas are touching each other cooked red eggs) or gifts, thus establishing love.

Pingguo Loud and Clear Song

The "Loud and Clear" liner notes are used to sing the "Loud and Clear" songs (also called Huan Loud and Clear), which "spread over a wide area, with Pingguo as the center, and upstream of the Right River to Tiantong, Tianyang, Baise and other counties, and down to Wushu and other counties, Baise and other counties in the upper reaches of the Right River, down to Wuming County, and also sung in Mashan and Bama in the Hongshui River Basin" ("General History of the Zhuang People").

"Loud and clear song is the name of a type of song popular in Pingguo County in the middle reaches of the Right River. It consists of three elements: the first is the Day Song, the second is the Night Song, and the third is the Scattered Song" ("General History of the Zhuang").

Seventy-two Witch Tunes Music

The Seventy-two Witch Tunes Music of the Lingyun Zhuang is mainly sung by a single person independently, initially with only a few scales and a simple singing style.

The lyrics of the songs are mostly narrated in the Zhuang language, which is used as a means of sending out condolences and prayers. In the continuous integration and development, the music of 72 witch tunes became more and more complex and melodious, and finally formed 72 tunes and named them with the names of 72 humanities and natural attractions in Lingyun. Some of the tunes are beautiful and soft, some of them are furious, some of them are sorrowful and painful; and they become more and more entertaining and upwardly mobile in terms of content.

According to expert testimony, as early as 3,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Zhuang people in the Lingyun this land slash and burn, and flourish. In the face of nature, the Zhuang ancestors appear small and powerless, the men go to the mountains to plow and hunt often never return, disease and natural disasters often take people's lives. In order to send their thoughts, relieve their grief, avoid disasters and express their ideals, Zhuang women gradually formed the Zhuang 72 Witch Tunes Music in their long-term production and life.

Seventy-two witch tunes have two main categories of musical instruments, static instruments are velvet fan, unicorn, phoenix, incense bag, ringing instruments are bells, copper beads, wild rice. When singing, bells and footsteps are used as the main soundtrack, with the left hand holding a fan with copper bells and the right hand holding a red handkerchief equipped with copper bells, and the singing, bells and footsteps rise and fall together. In the transfer of tunes, different styles and personalities are constantly embodied, with distinctive soft, fierce, and scattered panels, especially the soft panels, which are like clear streams and slow drifting clouds, embodying the wonderful spirituality of nature.

Seventy-two witch tunes music has a mysterious color that cannot be explained by modern science, for example, Zhuang witches burn incense and set up altars, sing witch songs and do deeds, and are able to change all kinds of accents and languages in a trance-like state, asking questions and answering questions and talking with the dead, so that the living can learn about the dead in the netherworld.

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Dance

The Zhuang dance originated from the imitation of hunting, but it is often closely linked with the activities of sorcerers to honor the gods. The sorcerers always dance and sing while honoring the gods, and the music gods eliminate disasters and pray for blessings. The earliest record, the Zhuang dance of the Huashan mural is actually at that time the ancestors of the Zhuang people on the frog God's chant. The shape of this dance is that both arms are open with elbows raised, both legs squatting into a bow, and the movement is rough and powerful, endowed with characteristics, known as the frog-shaped dance. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, bureaucrats danced the ghost drum dance when they sacrificed to ghosts and gods. Song Dynasty Guilin and Guibei folk Nuo team, wearing masks to jump pay God dance. Witch dance has been passed down until 1949, divided into Shigong dance and wizard dance, is part of the superstitious activities. Shigong dance wearing a ghost face shell, one for each god, up to more than 30, and each god has a different action and singing. The Wizard Dance is danced by witches when they are pretending to be gods or ghosts, and they dance with their hands and feet as if they are possessed by a god. There are other dances related to honoring the gods, such as the copper drum dance, the spring ox dance and the New Year dance.

The other dances of the Zhuang folk are mostly imitation of labor movements. According to statistics, there are dozens of dances that express labor and love life. Some of the famous ones are Pounding Dance, Flat Stretcher Dance, Bee Drum Dance, Tea Picking Dance, Bailing Dance, Hydrangea Dance, Shrimp Fishing Dance, Peach Leaf Dance, and Dove Dance.

Fire Cat Dance

Returning the grains to the silo after the harvest, keeping the rice from mold and rotting, and keeping the rats from stealing the food are the most important worries of the farmers after the harvest. Cats are the natural enemy of rats, in order to ensure that the grain in the granary safe and sound, gathered in Guangxi Wuzhou region of the Zhuang family will be held in a unique ritual "fire cat dance", to help the cat God for people to eliminate rodents, defending the fruit of the harvest.

Fire Cat Dance

Then, the role of the "cats" of 20 young men and women, dressed in bright colors, decorated with layers of tassels like flower cat fur dress, wearing a headband made of straw and extended down, hanging behind, shaped like a cat's tail of the long straw braid, and in the "head to tail" of the "cat's tail. From the head to the tail" of the straw braid, inserted root "burning incense", each person's forehead above the binding of a pre-drawn mask "big cat head".

In the front of the cat procession, by a head in a silver hairpin, clad in flowers, falling tassel embroidered shawl of the woman led the team, followed by two hand-held writing prayers for auspicious statements hexagonal lanterns of the girl and three men blowing horns *** with the composition of the sacrificial line of the front, in the side of the drum and gong orchestra light, rhythmic percussion and the melodious trumpet, immersed in the smoke in the indistinct The cats, led by a fairy-like guide, walked into the performance venue

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The cats began to perform, and in the process of changing their formation, they simulated cats walking and jumping, pouncing on live food, stretching and shrugging their backs, licking and scratching their fur, playing with each other, and other gestures

, which really made people feel as if they were entering the "Kingdom of the Cats".

Next, the cats imitated the human sacrifices to the gods, in the back of the incense filled with light and smoke, hands clasped frequently bowing worship, requesting the heavenly big cat god to come down to earth, for the people to eradicate the rat.

In a circle of cats dancing in order to entertain the cat god, a by two people dressed up, the former hands raised black and white patterned "cat head", the latter dressed as a "cat body," "cat tail! "Clad in pure black" cat "skin" of the big fat cat appeared on the scene. It suddenly leisurely observed the four directions, and suddenly climbed up the tree to climb up a tall culm erected in the circle, and looked into the distance to search for the hiding place of the big and small mouse sperms. Afterwards, he jumped down from the tree and waited quietly for the appearance of the little mouse spirit.

Then the cats began to perform a dance that mimicked the final step in the harvesting process

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picking up the grain and putting it in the barn. At the same time as the dance for the harvest was full of joy, a big mouse spirit with a sharp beak and a gray rat skin entered the grain storage yard with an exaggerated dance of peeping around, haunting, and whispering, and saw that the grain bins were placed in a quiet yard with no one to see them. After entering the grain yard, he saw that the grain silos were placed in the quiet yard unattended, and then he was ready to break the silos and steal the grain immediately with his hands and feet in a joyful manner. Just as the rat spirit was getting carried away, the big cat god, who had been hiding on the side, leaped out with a loud roar. The rat, who was trying to fight back, saw the ferocious big cat god, begged for forgiveness and immediately fled, trying to escape from the claws of the enemy cat god, and begged for his life.

The "Fire Cat Dance," which is full of hope and affection, ends in a climax of people cheering and cats jumping and dancing to thank the Cat God for destroying the rat sperm for the people, and to celebrate the fact that the fruits of the harvest will no longer be plundered.

Bianban Dance

Bianban Dance

Bianban Dance, also known as Bianban Dance, is popular in Du'an, Mashan, Donglan, Nandan and other counties in Guangxi. It is performed every year from the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar to the Lantern Festival, and the venue is on the sunbathing field in front of the village. There are four, six, ten and twenty performers, all of whom are in even numbers and are mostly women. When they perform, the dancers hold flat stretches and stand facing each other, surrounded by a wooden trough or bench that is more than ten feet long and one foot wide, and everyone shouts and calls out, so they hit each other up and down, left and right, and sing and dance while hitting each other, simulating the postures of harrowing, transplanting, bailing, harvesting, threshing and pounding of rice in the agricultural activities. The dancers sometimes fight against each other in pairs, sometimes fight against each other in crosses of four, sometimes fight against each other in pairs of people; there are standing, squatting, bowing, turning to fight, etc., with staggered lightness and weight, strength and weakness, speed and slowness, with beautiful and natural movements, and the whole dance is beautiful and fresh. 1955, this dance was chosen to perform in the National Mass Amateur Song and Dance Viewing and Inspection Conference and was awarded with an excellent prize. The dance is still a favorite of the Zhuang people and is performed for entertainment.

Shrimp Dance

The dance is popular in the area of Debao County, Guangxi. It graphically depicts the scene of a young Zhuang woman who goes to a small river to fish for shrimps under the bright spring light and meets a few young men fishing at the river's edge. The movements of the performance are fishing and picking; the way of the performance is: two young men with fishing rods in their hands and fish baskets on their backs are fishing by the river. In a short time, there came four young women with fishing rods in their hands and fish baskets on their waists, fishing for fish and shrimp. The men greeted the women and sang mountain songs; the women also sang mountain songs in reply. In the men and women a question and answer in the loud and clear song, men and women dance, the formation changes three times, singing three times, the scene is leisurely and enthusiastic. Singing songs, the words are mostly about love, happy fish and shrimp harvest. This dance is still in folklore.

Paper Horse Dance

Paper Horse Dance, also known as the Jumping Paper Horse, is circulating in Wenshan, Ma Guan, Yanshan and other places of the Zhuang sacrificial recruitment of funeral dance. In Wenshan County, and mainly popular in Panzhihua under the Zhai, Shui Che Zhai, new Pingba, high end of the area around the Zhuang soil branch of the settlement.

Paper Horse Dance

The paper horse is made of bamboo gimlets tied into the shape of a horse, and then painted with paper framing. The horse has a head, eyes, ears, mouth, body, tail and no feet. Before the dance, the dancers from the hollow of the abdomen of the paper horse drilled into the paper horse set in the waist, hands lifting the waist of the paper horse for the dance. Participants in the dance, mostly eight adult women. Among them, two people dancing paper horses, two people dancing daggers, dance knife, dance ghost masks, dance handkerchiefs, dance lion each one. The basic movement of the dance is to jump with one foot and land with both feet. Whenever the left foot jumps, the right foot takes a side step to the left front, and when the right foot jumps, the left foot takes a side step to the right front. On the third beat of the jump, the palm of the stride must also point twice on the ground. When jumping around the field, the dancers wearing ghost masks should take care of each other with the dancers in front and behind them, and the left and right feet and steps of the jump must be the same. In the dance, horse to horse, lion to handkerchief, ghost to knife, knife to knife, make each other fight action. Dance paper horse, but also according to the footwork, rhythm, rhythmic shaking the horse's head left and right, so that the two "horses" for each other bite, kick, fight. Dance on the horse bells jingling, dust around, really like fighting on the battlefield.

Bronze drum dance

Bronze drum dance is the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Zhuang and Yi people in the most widely circulated, one of the most influential ancient dance, distributed in Guangnan, Malipo, Funing, Xichou, Maguan, Qiu Bei and other counties of the Zhuang and Yi villages, and the Zhuang and Yi in Guangnan County, and the new village in Malipo County, and Funing County, Muyang Township of a few Yi Baixu tribe of bronze drum dance is most representative. The most representative of the copper drum dance. Copper drum dance is an ethnic group of collective dance. Dancers in a circle, step in the rhythm of the drums along the counterclockwise direction of the dance, jumped a group of dance moves and then jump another group, the content of the Zhuang and Yi farming life is a reflection of production. Guangnan Nashua Town, Ma Gui Village, Zhuang copper drum dance complete retention of twelve sets of dance movements, reflecting the different production content of the twelve months of the year. The copper drum dance of Malipo, Funing and several other villages is mainly used for praying for rain, seeking a good harvest and funeral and other folk activities for the elderly. The copper drum dance of the Zhuang and Yi ethnic groups is widespread, with simple and ancient movements and very rich dance vocabulary. When the Zhuang copper drum dance is performed, one person strikes the copper drum, and the other is assisted by a wooden box to form a ****ing glissando, which cannot be found in other music performances. Yi copper drum performance is a specialized skill, a person with male and female two drums can play twelve tone combinations, referred to as twelve tones. It is said that the male drum represents the sun, the female drum represents the moon, and the twelve tones represent the twelve months of the year. Therefore, the copper drum dance of the Yi ethnic group also contains the cultural content of the calendar of the local ethnic groups, and accumulates the historical and cultural connotations of the Zhuang and Yi forefathers' nature worship, ancestor worship, and the development of the national survival in many aspects, with distinctive ethnic and regional characteristics and important historical, cultural, and artistic values.

Jade Dance

The Jade Dance of the Zhuang people is a dance that uses bamboo or wire to form the skeleton of a jade bird, and then decorates it with green woolen threads shaped like a jade bird, performing the bird's usual life activities. According to the old artist said, more than 200 years ago, due to internal strife within the ruling class, resulting in years of war, coupled with droughts and floods come one after another, resulting in the working people in dire straits. At that time, a kind of prayer for peace and freedom of life became the strong desire of the Zhuang people. However, the Zhuang people are a nation with amazing intelligence, and they know that this wish is impossible to realize under the feudal rule. However, it was feasible to pursue mental masturbation and spiritual self-indulgence and reflect them through other forms. So the folk artists in the labor production and life, found a bird animal a jade bird. Not only brightly colored feathers, beautiful; and character tame, kind, do not bully the opposite sex, hard-working self-food, just with the attributes of the people; then touch the emerald bird lively, dexterous action characteristics: its beautiful form, its hard-working self-food, yearning for freedom, good faith. By reflecting the Zhuang people's hard work, integrity, goodness of the national character, to stimulate the strong desire of the Zhuang people to pursue a full and happy life.

Shigong Opera

The Zhuang "Shigong Dance" is a kind of ritual dance belonging to the Meishan sect that has been passed down in the counties of Wuming, Yongning, Du'an and Qinzhou in Guangxi. It has a long history of dance vocabulary is relatively rich, strong ethnic characteristics, is an important part of the Zhuang folk dance.

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Musical Instruments

Bee Instruments

Bee Drums are thin waist drums that have been passed down in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and are named for the fact that the drums resemble the waist of a bee, and they are played horizontally across the chest and are known as "Horizontal Drums". The style and method of playing are similar to those of the Korean drums, which are of the same origin.

Bee drums in ancient times not only called "war drum", and "beat drum", "drum", "in the Northern Wei Dynasty was popular for a while, and thus also have" Wei drum "called. Wei drum". It has a history of more than 1,000 years.

Ma Bone Hu

Ma Bone Hu

Ma Bone Hu is called "Ran Du" and "Ran Lei" in Zhuang. "Ran" for huqin collectively, governor, for the bones, meaning that the horse, mule, cow bones made of huqin. Therefore, it is usually called horse bone hu or bone hu. Zhuang language is also known as "Ran Lie", "Ran Sen". "Lei", "Sen" both small size, high and sharp sound meaning. The name "Ranlei" is also composed of the names of a young man and woman in the legend. Similar in shape to the Xiqin, it has a clear, bright and pleasant sound, and is often used for solo performance, instrumental ensemble or as accompaniment for folk songs, rap music, Zhuang opera and Buyei opera. It is popular in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region such as Longlin, Xilin, Tianlin, Baise, Leye, Lingyun, etc., and in Guizhou Province such as Xingyi, Anlong, Zhenfeng, Xueheng, Wangmu, etc., in Qiuxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and Funing County, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.

The drum was originally made of a piece of horse, mule or cow thigh bone, 10-12 in length and 5 centimeters in diameter, oval in shape, with the front mouth covered with snake skin, fish skin or frog skin, and the back open. The instrument pole is made of mahogany or red toon wood, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, 46-60 centimeters long, with a horse's head carved at the top for decoration. There are two shafts, originally made of yellow (a kind of deer) horn, now made of mahogany. Two steel wire strings. Fixed string d1, a1, range d1-e3, two more octaves.

When playing the instrument, the barrel is placed on the leg, the left hand holds the instrument and presses the strings, and the right hand holds the horse-tail bow and plays between the two strings. The sound is similar to and softer than that of the Jinghu. Commonly used techniques include the front bow, the back bow, the small jump bow, the staccato bow, the beating sound, the leaning sound, the sliding sound, etc. The bow is used for solo performance, or for the ensemble of an eight-note orchestra. It is used for solo performance, orchestra ensemble, Molen rap and Zhuang opera accompaniment. It is the main instrument of the eight-note band, and also plays the leading role in the Zhuang opera band.

Ghengni

Ghengni is a stringed instrument of the Zhuang people. It is popular in Donglan, Fengshan and Bama of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "Hang Sheng" is the voice of the Zhuang word for "seven", and "ni" is the collective name for musical instruments in the Zhuang folklore. It is also called "Zhuang seven-stringed zither" or "Waqin". In the early Ming Dynasty, it was popular in western Guangxi, and has a history of 600 years.

Ghengni has a simple and ancient shape, consisting of a *** sounding box, Yue Shan, string axle, zither column, strings and bow (Figure). The *** sounding box is the body of the instrument, which is a horizontal semicircular hollow body, and it is made of the panel and the bottom plate glued together. Panel for the semi-circular arch, made of tung wood, more locally produced paulownia wood, a whole section of logs from the broken in half to half of the log hollowing out the inner cavity, carved into a semi-tubular groove, convex planing into a semi-circular surface, the panel thickness of 0.7 cm ~ 1 cm. The bottom surface is flat and straight, mostly made of thin pine and cedar boards, with a thickness of 0.5 to 0.8 centimeters, and a small round hole and a large curved crescent-shaped hole opposite to each other on the bottom board. The panel and the bottom board are glued together and the ends are transparent without sound windows. The case is 60cm~70cm long, 16cm~17cm wide at the bottom, and 7cm~9

.5cm high in the middle. At 5.5cm~8cm from both ends of the surface of the instrument, there are Yue Shan (string pillows) supporting strings, Yue Shan made of hardwood, semi-circular strips, the bottom of the panel with the Yue Shan height of 1.3cm~1.5cm, the bottom width of 1.4cm~1.6cm. Between the head of the instrument and the yakasan, seven string axes are arranged vertically at equal intervals, and the axes are made of teak and other hardwoods with fine grain, and are mostly made of wood called "fat outside" in the local Zhuang language, and the axes are conical in shape, and the axes' handles are mostly bulbous in shape. The outer side of Yue Shan at the end of the zither, there are seven round string holes for the strings to pass through and use. The zither column, also known as the zither horse, is made of wood called "pomelo" in Zhuang, or can be made of plum wood, walnut wood or cow horn, and is shaped like a Qin-Han Dynasty coin or herringbone, with small holes at the upper end of the column, through which the strings pass and support the strings on the surface of the zither, and the seven zither columns are arranged obliquely in the middle of the panel. The seven strings are arranged diagonally in the middle of the panel. The first seven strings were made of brown silk or horsetail, then of sheep's intestines, and now silk or steel strings are used. One end of the strings is wrapped around the axle of the strings, and the other end passes through the string holes, and the strings are tied to a small stick on the inside of the string holes, or the strings are knotted on the inside of the holes, or the strings are directly tied to the strings with holes drilled in the end of the zither on Mount Yue. The bow is made of bamboo or thin bamboo, and the bow is 50 centimeters long with the horse's tail as the bow hair.

Three strings of the Zhuang

Three strings of the Zhuang, is the Zhuang plucked stringed instruments. The shape is similar to the Han, Lahu small three-stringed, brittle tone, mainly used for the Zhuang eight-note ensemble or for the accompaniment of the Zhuang opera and rap, loved by the Zhuang people. It is popular in Longlin, Xilin, Tianlin, Leye, Lingyun, Baise, Tianyang, Tiandong, Debao, Jingxi and other places in the west and south of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Tianqin

Tianqin is a plucked string instrument of the Zhuang branch of the migrant people. In the Chinese language, it is called Ding Ding. By the sound of the instrument is harmonized and named. It has a long history, unique shape, mellow and bright tone, often used for solo performance or accompaniment for songs and dances, and is loved by the bias people. It is popular in Fangcheng Autonomous County, Ningming and Longzhou in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It has a history of thousands of years.

Two hundred years ago, it was already passed down among the migrants of the Zhuang branch. Originally, it was used by Tianma (witch) to avoid calamities and cure illnesses. Later, this kind of witchcraft singing and dancing evolved into mass entertainment, but it is still called Singing Sky, Playing Sky and Jumping Sky. The instrument used is called Tianqin. The traditional Tianqin is about 120 centimeters long. The zither pole is made of wood and carved with dragon pattern. The head of the instrument is carved in the shape of a phoenix, a marshal's seal, the sun or the moon, and a wooden string shaft is placed on each side. The barrel is made of gourd or hemp bamboo. Hemispherical, 10 centimeters thick, the first 11 rubber hemp bamboo shell or thin tung wood board, face diameter 11 centimeters, the back end of the openwork pattern for the sound window. Bamboo code, Zhang silk strings. The body of the zither can be disassembled and assembled, easy to carry. Modern Tianqin, the zither pole length of 90 cm, semi-cylindrical, pole body without decoration. The head is flat-topped, and the barrel is made of bamboo or iron, round, 10 centimeters in diameter, covered with python skin, with silk or nylon strings. The strings are set at c1, g or d1, g. The inner strings are set for the high notes and the outer strings for the low notes. The range is g-g3.

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Strong Opera

Strong Opera, also known as "Strong Opera", is developed on the basis of the folk literature, songs, dances, and rapping skills of the Zhuang people. In the old days, the Zhuang called themselves "Buto", meaning "native" and "local", and called the Zhuang opera "Changto", meaning "native opera".

Strong Opera

Because of the differences in regional environment, dialect, music, singing, performance style and accompanying musical instruments, the Zhuang Opera has produced branches such as Guangxi's North Road Zhuang Opera, South Road Zhuang Opera, Zhuang Shihong Opera (also known as the Zhuang Master Opera), as well as Yunnan's Funing Zhuang Opera, Guangnan Zhuang Opera and so on. Among them, the North Road Zhuang Opera of Guangxi is popular in the areas using the northern dialect of the Zhuang language, with the horse bone hu, gourd hu, moon qin and other accompanying instruments, and the singing style mainly includes Zhengtong, Pingtong, Buya, Maocha, scolding board, hate board, crying, mourning, etc., and some of the roles have specific singing styles, with repertoires such as Buya, Wenlong and Xiao Ni, Liu Er Fighting Fangui, etc.; the South Road Zhuang Opera of Guangxi includes the Zhuang puppet theater with strings and the Ma'ai Zhuang Opera, which is popular in the areas using the southern dialect of the Zhuang language, and is also known as Zhuang Master Opera. It is popular in the areas where the southern dialect of the Zhuang language is spoken, and it is accompanied by Qinghu, Houhu, and Xiaosansanyin, etc. The singing style mainly includes the flat plate, sighing tone, picking flowers, happy tone, fast happy tone, high tone, weeping tone, cold tone, and poetic tone, etc., and it adopts the form of gang accent when it is in the cavity, and its repertoire includes the "Baohulu" and the "Hundred Birds Clothes", etc. The Zhuang Shikong Opera is born out of the rituals and entertaining songs and dances taught by the Zhuang Folkloric Teachers of the Shikong religion, and it is circulated in the places of Hechi, Liuzhou and Baise, Guangxi, and the performances are initially performed in red clothes. In the beginning of the show, they wore red clothes and wooden masks, but later they changed into costumes, accompanied by beehive drums, gongs, cymbals and non-film flutes, with repertoires such as "Moyi Da Wang" and "White Horse Girl", etc. The Funing Zhuang Opera and Guangnan Zhuang Opera, which were popularized in Yunnan, were greatly influenced by the Han Chinese local opera, and were otherwise characterized by their own characteristics.

Strong opera is rooted in the soil of national life, is a long history of Zhuang people, a unique type of theater, is a bridge of ethnic cultural exchanges in Southeast Asia.