Folk songs and dances from many
ethnic groups in China lack successors, posing a threat to the
ethnic art form. This has aroused concern among experts devoted to
the preservation of indigenous culture.
Folk music from China's Dong
ethnic group is a unique style of chorus with a multi-part
complex form called "Dage." It caused quite a sensation
around the world last century, eliminating in the process the
perception that China didn't possess complex chorus music in its
folk traditions.
However, experts have found that this ancient Dong musical form
faces extinction as few people from the Dong can now sing it.
"How long will the 'Dage' last for?" asks Chen Leqi, vice
director of the Ethnic Affairs Research Center under the auspices
of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China.
Like the "Dage," many other traditional folk song forms
and dances have difficulty in finding successors.
The issue was discussed recently at the Seminar for the
Preservation of Ethnic Culture which was sponsored by the China
Association for Promoting Democracy, one of China's eight
non-Communist parties.
According to an expert from
southwest China's Sichuan Province, there are now only eight people
in the province who can sing melodies from the Nanping folk songs,
a famous local music in Jiuzhaigou, a touring destination; less
than ten people can play the Qiang flute; and exactly four people
can sing the multi-parts chorus of the Qiang
ethnic group, of whom the youngest is in his fifties.
After investigating and studying the Nuo Culture in western Jiangxi
Province, the research team from the Jiangxi provincial committee
of the China Association for Promoting Democracy found that Nuo
masks, Nuo sedan chairs, Nuo dress and adornments have been lost,
as well as some Nuo dance teams been dismissed, and that there is
no successor to the Nuo art.
In southwest China's Guizhou Province, stories of an oral
tradition, passed on by word of mouth, as well as folk and ancient
songs, melodies and operas of various ethnic groups are also on the
edge of extinction, due to a lack of successors in places of
origin, said a folk art worker from Guizhou at the seminar.
Scholars attribute this to rapid
social and economic development, which, they think, has changed the
living style of ethnic groups. Youngsters today love pop music
rather than folk songs and dances. Also, many of them have chosen
to leave home and make a living, and are often unwilling to learn
this art from old generations. With the decline of old folk
artists, there will be less and less successors for these ethnic
traditions.
Experts point out that priority
needs to be given to saving and protecting ethnic folk songs and
dances. An effective way is to introduce them to local schools
according to ethnic group distribution conditions.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting and Daragh Moller, November 25,
2003)