Introduction to Shanxi Folk Songs

Shanxi is located on the North China Plateau, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, with a total area of more than 150,000 square kilometers and a population of 25 million. Except for a very small number of Hui and a handful of Manchus living in scattered areas throughout the province, Shanxi is basically a single Han region.

The vast majority of the province, except for the five basins of Jinzhong, Jinnan, Shangdang (southeast Jin), Xinding and Datong, are mountainous areas of earth and rock. The main mountain ranges are the Zhongtiao Mountains in the south, the Taihang Mountains in the east, the Wutai Mountains and the Hengshan Mountains in the north, and the Luliang Mountains in the west. The main rivers are Fen River, Sanggan River, Hutuo River, Zhanghe River, Pushui River and Qin River. Among them, the Fen River, which originates from Ningwu in northern Jin to Hejin in southern Jin and injects into the Yellow River, runs through the north and south, and is the largest river in the province. Shanxi's four neighbors are: bordering Hebei in the east, adjoining Inner Mongolia in the north, and separated from Shaanxi and Henan provinces by the Yellow River in the west and south. Economically, Shanxi has historically been a predominantly agricultural province, with the exception of a few forestry and pastoral industries. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China, it has been famous for its abundance of coal, and is thus the home of coal and an energy base in China. Shanxi is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation. Since ancient times, there have been legends of "Yao Capital Pingyang" (now Linfen City), "Shun Capital Pu Ban" (now Yongji), "Yu Capital Anyi" (now Xia County). From the excavated artifacts, it can be seen that there are ceramic ocarinas from the Neolithic Age more than 4,000 years ago, stone chimes from the Xia Dynasty, Yong bells from the Spring and Autumn Period, and braided bells and chimes from the Warring States Period. In Houma unearthed in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty Jin casting workshop, also found in the casting of chimes of the ceramic model (mold). All these show that the development of music in Shanxi is relatively early. ("The Song of Striking the Soil"), and "I am a commoner, I am not a waterman, I don't know what I don't know, and I obey the Emperor's rules" ("The Nursery Rhyme of Kangqu") are all rumored to be folk songs and nursery rhymes from Yao's time. "The south wind is smoky and can relieve the huffing and puffing of our people! When the south wind is blowing, the wealth of our people can be amassed!" ("Song of the South Wind") is said to be a folk song about the relationship between the salt ponds of Yuncheng and the people's lives during the time of Shun. Most of the Tang Feng and Wei Feng in the Book of Songs, the earliest collection of poems in China, are ancient folk songs produced in the Shanxi region. These folk songs, such as "Pepper Chat", "Ge Sheng", "Silk Muse", "Bustard Feather" in "Tang Feng", "Shuo Mouse", "False Sandal", "Between Ten Acres", "Fen Frustration", "Ge Sandal" in "Wei Feng", etc., reflect a wide range of social life, they either sing about the labor life, or expose the ruler's shamelessness and shamelessness, or complain about the people's life pains, and many of them also reflect the marriage or love life. From these folk songs, we can see that the ancient Han working people, not only "hungry people sing about their food, laborers sing about their work", with folk songs to sing about their lives, express their feelings, but also through the folk songs, to attack the unreasonable social phenomena, to express their resistance to oppression and the desire for a better life.