[Liu Xicheng] Intangible heritage protection and sustainable development

As one of the cradles of the Chinese nation, the "west" once occupied an extraordinary position in the history of the formation and development of the Chinese nation.

In the future era of globalization, the "west" will still play a decisive role in the destiny of the Chinese nation.

In the future survival and development of the Chinese nation, in addition to providing important material resources, human resources and other guarantees for sustainable development, the "western region" has another indispensable resource that has a long history, rich accumulation and never been interrupted.

Humanistic resources-intangible cultural heritage.

The protection of these long and rich cultural resources is an important factor that enables the Chinese nation to stand in the forest of the world with its uniqueness and richness of culture and maintain its vitality forever.

It is also an important part of deepening and cultivating the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation among a generation of China youth.

In the future era of globalization, I think that economic internationalization and cultural diversification should coexist, both of which are indispensable.

If we only achieve international integration of the economy and eliminate globalization of cultural diversity, it will be an unimaginable and abnormal world.

Each ethnic group in the world maintains its own cultural uniqueness, thus making the world's culture in a diverse and diverse state.

That is the world in which mankind is most suitable for survival.

The Chinese civilization that rose in the east is one of the four major ancient civilizations in the world, and it is the only ancient civilization that has not stopped flowing.

It has had a huge and far-reaching impact on world culture.

As a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, I am proud of Chinese civilization and Chinese culture.

Located in the western part of the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin, it is also one of the most important cradles of ancient Chinese civilization.

The ancient fishing, hunting and nomadic culture, especially the long and developed farming culture, cultivated a diverse and splendid western humanity-intangible culture.

Culture, with the national spirit of endless life and self-improvement, great wisdom to adapt to and transform the environment, and honest and polite folk customs, have infiltrated generations of western people, but these are regarded as "heritage" in contemporary times.

In fact, intangible culture, which still "lives" in people's memory and verbally to varying degrees, can be called the treasure house of "Chinese studies" in China.

Although it has been investigated and collected many times by some scholars and cultural people, it has left precious materials and information recorded in different eras to latecomers, but from a national perspective, it has never received comprehensive attention and systematically collected, sorted and studied to give full play to its role in the construction of national spiritual culture.

role.

If we simply emphasize economic development while ignoring the inheritance and development of traditional spiritual culture, especially folk culture with thousands of years of tradition, and develop on this basis instead of creating some so-called new cultures out of thin air, or lose confidence in Chinese local culture and its spirit and let Western popular culture flow freely, then the consequences will be unimaginable.

Witness of national history and embodiment of national spirit

Folk songs are one of the most popular folk literature and art genres that most directly witnesses history and embodies the national spirit.

In the west, which refers to the five provinces and autonomous regions of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang), as well as the northwest of Shanxi and the southwest of Inner Mongolia, it is quite common to have a Han folk song with two upper and lower sentence patterns, extended and extended by a variant of the seven character characters with nine characters, eleven characters, or 338 characters as the base style.

Academic circles usually refer to them collectively as northwest folk songs.

Northwest folk songs, more specifically, are mainly distributed in the agricultural areas of northwest Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, central Ningxia, southern Gansu, eastern Qinghai, and the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia.

This is a long and narrow "cultural circle" centered on the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin.

I will call it the "Western Cultural Circle".

There are many types of folk songs and diverse forms of music here, but they have common factors that connect this long and narrow area.

What are the common cultural factors? Commentators once said: Northwest folk songs are the soul of China folk songs.

The so-called "soul of China folk songs" is not only because the middle section of the Yellow River Basin where this area is located is the cradle of the Chinese nation, but I think it mainly refers to the national spirit of endless life and self-improvement expressed by northwest folk songs.

and the exciting, bold and unconstrained style expressed.

Of course, saying that northwest folk songs are the soul of China folk songs does not mean that folk songs of other places and other ethnic groups are not the soul of China folk songs and do not express the national spirit.

Among the northwest folk songs, northwest Shanxi folk songs and northern Shaanxi folk songs are important ones.

The bend of the river in northwest Shanxi, including Baode, is located at the bend of the Yellow River.

The folk songs circulated here are famous for their obvious characteristics in both content and form.

Historically, since the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the exploitation and oppression of feudal rulers, land concentration and successive years of famine, the people in this area have no choice but to abandon their homes and "go to Xikou" and "Xikou" refer to Ikezhao League, Zhungeer Banner, Baotou, Daqingshan, Houtao and other places in western Inner Mongolia to make a living in the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia.

Some return from spring to winter, and some never return to other places all year round.

The song said: "Hequ Baode Prefecture does not harvest for nine years.

Men go outside the mouth, and women pick bitter vegetables." This situation continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The miserable life of the migrants not only created the content of Hequ folk songs, but the people also brought local folk songs to the Hetao area, where they lived, and brought the "mountain climbing tune" in the Hetao area to Hequ.

From the perspective of history and origin,"Shanshan Diao" should be a folk song of the Han nationality, but the Mongolian people in the Mongolian and Han areas of Ordos also sang it in Chinese.

Therefore,"Shanshan Diao" has become a common folk song form between the two ethnic groups in the Han and Mongolian areas.

In terms of artistic form and artistic style, since the southwest is adjacent to northern Shaanxi except Shenmu and Fugu, and the north is adjacent to the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia, the river bend located between the two places is naturally influenced by the northern Shaanxi folk song "Xintianyou" and the Hetao folk song "Climbing Tune".

Through the mutual integration and mutual absorption of cultures, the river bend folk song-"Shanqu" has formed the pathos and lingering characteristics in style.

In fact, pathos or sadness is the tone of the artistic style of almost all folk songs, which is determined by the fate of the singer.

However, the special history and destiny of the Hequ people make this sad sentiment of their folk songs more intense and common.

Engels said when talking about Irish songs: "Most of these songs are full of deep melancholy, which is also a manifestation of national sentiment today.

When the rulers invent newer and more modern methods of oppression, can this nation have other manifestations?" "Notes on the Preface of the Collection of Irish Ballad", see "Folk Literature" bimonthly magazine, No.

1, 1962) Gogol also said when talking about little Russian ballad: "As Maksimovic correctly pointed out, Russia's sad music expresses a forgetfulness of life: it strives to leave life and extinguish daily needs and worries; However, in the songs of Little Russia, it is integrated with life.

Its syllables are vivid and lively, so it seems not to be ringing, but to be talking-speak with words, vent out the depression in your heart,...

every sentence is deeply imprinted in the soul." "On Little Russian Ballad", see "Russian Writers on Folk Literature", page 26, China Folk Literature and Art Press, 1986) Rivers and mountains often become barriers to cultural distribution and division.

Different from the style of Hequ folk songs, Zuoquan, located east of the Fenhe River and in the Taihang Mountains, presents another artistic world.

The minor tunes there are equally euphemistic and charming, while the folk songs are loud and clear.

Different historical experiences and different geographical and cultural environments have made the folk songs of northwest Shanxi show profound poetry, fragrant rhythm and complex and diverse styles in a unified exciting and unconstrained tone and sad and melodious melody.

[1]

Another branch of northwest folk songs is "Hua 'er".

"Hua 'er" is spread among the eight ethnic groups in the four provinces and regions of Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang: Hui, Han, Tu, Sala, Baoan, Dongxiang, Yugu, and Tibetan.

It is a folk song that is jointly owned by different ethnic groups and is sung in Chinese.

In terms of form, it is similar to the mountain winding in northwest Shanxi, Shuntianyou in northern Shaanxi, and mountain climbing in the Hetao area mentioned above.

When "Hua 'er" originated is different.

There was a heated debate in the 1960s.

Some scholars say that "flowers" originated in the Tang Dynasty.

[2]Some scholars believe that "Hua 'er" appeared in the late Song Dynasty at the latest.

[3]Most scholars believe that "Hua 'er" first appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

There is no conclusion in the debate.

Let's take the Ming Dynasty as the criterion.

Then,"Hua 'er" has been circulating in the northwest region for 600 years.

Commentators say that "Hua 'er" is the nature of the northwest and the heart song of love.

It is true that generations of ethnic groups in the west have lived in the song of "Hua 'er" from youth to old age.

They have endured in various unfair social life, but they have gained temporary victories and found love in the song.

Joy, enjoyment of life and comfort in life.

However, when looking at the content and themes of "Hua 'er", it is far from just the nature of human childhood and the heart of love.

It is also a reflection of the times and society.

We can easily find that in their lines and in their long jumping melodies, Strong earthquakes sound the sound of history.

The Chinese ancestors who bred and started businesses in Sri Lanka have gone through many hardships and hardships! The annexation and war during the tribal alliance period, the national rule and oppression during the feudal dynasty period, the warlord separatism and tyranny during the Republic of China period, the massacre and resistance of Japanese militarism, natural and man-made disasters, ethnic migration, genocide, population mobility,...

Everything has failed to stop the long-passed down northwest folk songs.

It has always been passed down and prevalent among the people with strong and tenacious vitality, accompanying the people of all ethnic groups in the northwest who are troubled and constantly striving for self-improvement.

It has become an example of multi-ethnic cultural exchange, absorption, integration and renewal.

In short, whether it is the mountain winding in northwest Shanxi, the Shuntianyou in northern Shaanxi, the mountain climbing songs in Hetao, or the "flowers" shared by the eight ethnic groups in the four western provinces, as one of the main roots of the long-standing and profound traditional Chinese culture, it is not only a witness to the history of China, the destiny of the nation, and the vicissitudes of the region, but also a reflection of the national spirit of endless life and self-improvement.

Cultural resources in the west provide basis for national conditions research

In ancient Chinese literary theory, ballads have always been called "folk songs" or "wind".

Therefore, ballads are described as "wind" because ballads always follow the pulse and changes of the times, actively reflect the face of the times and society, and make timely judgments on the world and the world from the bottom of society-peace or chaos, advance or retreat, peace or militarism, achieve or lose...

Gorky, the founder of Soviet socialist literature, also said: "Since ancient times, folk literature has been constantly and uniquely accompanying history." [4]In short, ballads are a reflection of the people's hearts, and the people's hearts are actually the will of the people.

They have their own laws of movement and have never been influenced by the subjective will of the ruling class or the guidance of mainstream public opinion.

Therefore, ballads have been valued by rulers throughout the world.

There is also a system of "collecting poems" implemented throughout the past dynasties.

Special personnel collect folk ballads for reference by the upper ruling groups, understand the back of the people's hearts, and promptly revise and adjust their own policies and decrees to preserve the long-term stability of the current regime.

This is what we call national conditions research today.

In a social environment where media is underdeveloped and press freedom is lacking, the establishment of the poetry collection system is actually a very good system for studying national conditions and governing the country.

As long as the ruler is not preconceived, you can hear positive and negative opinions from the common people from the songs collected.

Even today, the tradition of ballads is still continued by the people every day.

The ballads produced in today's society, especially those that criticize unhealthy trends in society, are also floating and passed on among the people like the wind.

On the one hand, they express their opinions on social issues, and on the other hand, they also want to dilute the resentment they have accumulated in their hearts.

Isn't collecting such ballads also part of our research on society and national conditions?

We usually say that the western region is an underdeveloped area, only in terms of economic development and the amount of wealth per capita.

In terms of human resources, the western region is a "rich mine" and even a treasure house rich in "Chinese studies".

To put it another way, due to the slower and slower social development than that of coastal areas, the penetration and impact of the commodity economy on many rural and pastoral areas in the west is relatively weak.

However, the ideological influence of traditional farming methods or nomadic methods on the people is still relatively solid, and the nation's "cultural memory" and "oral traditions" are relatively rich and complete in these regions and ethnic groups.

Many folk cultural phenomena that have disappeared in coastal areas or other cultural circles, such as certain myths and legends, may still be preserved quite completely in some places in the west.

Based on the differences in totem beliefs recorded in myths, Li Zehou divided prehistoric China into two major group systems: the western group system with dragons as its totem), which was believed by the Yanhuang Tribal Alliance; the other was the eastern group system with phoenixes as its totem), which was believed by the Dongyi Tribal Alliance.

"The two major tribal alliances of the east and west, with 'dragon' and 'phoenix' as their main totems, have experienced a long period of cruel war, plunder and massacres, and gradually merged and unified.

The so-called "human faces and bird bodies, and two red serpents are trampled on" The Book of Mountains and Seas "), and the so-called" Paoxi is the surname of Feng "may reflect this struggle and integration? Judging from various historical documents, underground artifacts and later research results, this struggle and integration probably ended with the victory of the Western Yanhuang Group (victory over the Eastern Yi Group)." [5]Although this view is just a mere statement, we can see that at least in local legends, the power of the dragon totem belief is becoming more and more powerful than the phoenix totem belief.

In other words, the myths and legends of the dragon totem belief preserved by the Western Group are still very strong.

If the mythical gods of the ancestors of Fuxi and Nuwa were stripped of the veil gradually imposed on them by later generations, they would all have snake bodies and faces, and the snake was the forerunner of the dragon.

Such an image is not only found on the lid of the human head and snake body pot in the Yangshao Culture of the Neolithic Era, but also appears in the living myths and legends that are still circulating among the people today.

Some scholars have also divided ancient China myths into two systems: Kunlun myths and Penglai myths.

If observed and analyzed according to this theory, some myths in the Kunlun mythological system, such as the myth of the Queen Mother of the West and the myth of Nuwa, have not lost their vitality in the west.

There are many more examples of beliefs and etiquette.

The cultural relics of praying for rain in Tianshui [6] and the insect sacrifice ceremony in East Gansu [7] reported by folklore scholars in recent years have important reference significance for the study of today's national conditions.

Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned stance on national conditions research, there are at least two academic stances on ballads: one is the stance of poetry literature, which collects and studies ballads as reference and nourishment for the development of new poetry literature; the other is the stance of folk customs, which collects and studies ballads and expands them to include general folk customs, as a reference for improving society, improving customs, and governing the country, and at the same time establishing an academic research system.Today, in view of the accelerating pace of globalization, modernization, and urbanization, and the transformation from a lifestyle under the long farming culture to the industrial/post-industrial era, that is, the consumption era and the information era, as the "cultural memory" of the nation, the folk culture-intangible cultural heritage, including folk songs, is facing a trend of rapid decline or even extinction.

Once a nation's "cultural memory" is forgotten, it is a nation's greatest sorrow.

Therefore, The cause of folk cultural protection we are launching today goes far beyond improving folk customs, improving national governance, developing our nation's new poetry on the basis of folk songs, and establishing a discipline system of folklore.

It lies in maximizing the cultural roots of our nation, maintaining and inheriting the uniqueness of our Chinese culture and the diversity of the cultures of each ethnic group, recognizing, inheriting and carrying forward the cultural spirit of our nation, Provide important basis and guarantee for the sustainable development of our nation and country.

"Emphasizing the importance of intangible heritage, which is a melting pot of cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development" is an important idea in the Istanbul Declaration adopted by the Third Roundtable of Ministers of Culture held by UNESCO in 2002.

[8]

Issues raised by the principle of cultural diversity for cultural policy

It is important and timely to put forward the proposition of maintaining cultural diversity from a global perspective.

World culture is originally diverse and diverse.

With the intensification of the modernization process, the expansion and invasion of Western culture, mainly American culture, has caused the local cultures of many nations and countries that are in a weak position or lose confidence in their own national culture.

-Intangible culture is in danger of weakening or even extinction.

Under this trend, UNESCO proposes to maintain the uniqueness of the cultures of various ethnic groups in the world, thereby maintaining the diversity of world cultures.

Currently, commentators who talk about cultural diversity talk more about the necessity around the world, rather than the thoughts they bring to our domestic cultural policies.

From the perspective of our country, maintaining cultural diversity is also of great practical and long-term significance.

We may wish to look at this issue from multiple perspectives.

From the perspective of the origin of China's civilization, in the 1950s and 1960s, more archaeological work was done in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

Due to the discovery of Zhengzhou Shangcheng, Yanshi Erlitou sites and a series of related sites, the "Central Plains Theory" of the origin of ancient civilization in China was formed, believing that the Chinese nation originated in the Yellow River Basin, thus believing that our culture is unified.

Since the late 1970s, archaeologists have successively unearthed the Niuhelang Hongshan Cultural Site in the Daling River Basin, the late Yangshao Cultural Settlement Site in Dadiwan, Qin 'an, Gansu Province, and the Liangzhu Cultural Site in Yuhang, Zhejiang Province, in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Neolithic cultural sites such as the Neolithic Cultural Site and the Hemudu Cultural Site in Yuyao.

As a result, the "Central Plains theory" of China civilization was questioned.

Now, the view of the diverse composition of ancient Chinese culture has been recognized.

But as some scholars pointed out: "Academic circles generally believe that the origin of China civilization is relatively complex, and there seem to be several origin centers rather than one center.

This is the pluralism or polycentrism of the origin of China civilization...

However, saying that China civilization has more than one center does not mean that everywhere is the birthplace of civilization." [9]From the perspective of China's farming culture, two cultural circles or cultural zones have been formed based on the two mother rivers of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River: the Yellow River Basin is the millet culture, while the Yangtze River Basin is the rice culture.

Differences in farming distribution have brought many differences to the residents of the two river basins not only in farming methods, eating habits, clothing, even festival customs and sacrificial methods, but also in national personalities.

From the perspective of China's regional culture, there have been records of the so-called "Fifteen Countries" since the era of the Book of Songs.

Even today, such regional cultural differences still exist obviously, such as the Three Qin and Three Jin cultures, Qilu culture, Yanzhao culture, Jingchu culture, Wuyue culture, etc., are also diverse.

This cultural perspective was mainly adopted by foreign Sinology circles in the first half of the 20th century, but since the 1980s, it has attracted increasing attention from domestic academic circles and political circles.

In addition, there is a more realistic and often seen in newspapers and periodicals, that is, the perspective of national culture.

In addition to the main ethnic group, the Han nationality, there are also 55 ethnic minorities in China.

Among these 55 ethnic groups, they can be divided into Tonggusus-Manchurian, Tibetan-Burmese and other language families according to language families.

The cultures of each language family are also different.

In short, maintaining the diversity of Chinese culture is one of the important guarantees for the sustainable development of China's economy and culture.

Of course, it should be the starting point for formulating cultural policies first.

Relatively speaking, due to historical reasons, Northwest folk culture is not only an important element in the diverse composition of Chinese culture, but also even retains more originality and high-quality.

Therefore, the protection of Northwest folk culture is more worthy of all-round attention.

The author once expressed the following opinions at the acceptance report meeting of the first phase of the "Northwest Human Resources and Environment Basic Database" of China Academy of Art on June 28 this year: "In today's global integration, how to solve the problem of cultural diversity is actually an important 'national policy' issue.

For a period of time, people ignored traditional etiquette and customs.

The western region of our country still preserved rich traditional etiquette and traditional customs.

These things have not disappeared and are a kind of 'living culture'.

I believe that these etiquette and customs still have strong vitality.

Moreover, in the past, academic circles always believed that only Confucian culture was our 'national learning', but in fact these large amounts of traditional culture preserved in the people should also be an important part of China's 'national learning'."

Data and experience of predecessors

In the past century since the 20th century, predecessors have done a lot of work and obtained precious historical experience and materials on the collection and protection of cultural resources in the west.

Preserving folk literature and art materials in a recorded manner is also an effective protection worldwide.

If the collection of folk literature and art in the early 20th century was just an academic activity of individuals, then in the 1940s, whether in the southwest of the rear area or in the various Jiefang District represented by Yan 'an, the collection of folk literature and art was closely integrated with the needs and interests of the country, the nation and the people, and became a cultural consciousness under the consciousness of "cultural consciousness." Looking back on history, in the garden of folk literature and art, it can be said that the road has gone one after another and the road has gone through arduous hardships.

Among the collectors of folk literature and art in the west, Yuan Fuli is a representative figure who cannot but be mentioned.

He's a geologist.

He graduated from Colombia University in 1921.

Since 1923, he has been conducting geological surveys in Lanzhou, Pingliang, Wuwei, Yongchang, Shandan, Gaotai and Zhangye areas in Gansu, and has made great contributions to geology.

At that time, when he stepped into Tongguan, the gateway to the northwest, he was shocked and attracted by the high-pitched folk songs of the people.

After geological surveys, he began to collect the popular local folk song "Hua 'er" in various parts of Gansu.

The objects he interviewed included young students and soldiers in Lintao, households in Lanzhou and Qin 'an, and children in Yuzhong.

He collected "flowers" from May 1923 to August 1924.

There are many manuscripts recorded.

In 1924, he sent the 30 selected "Hua 'er" and the article "Ballad of Gansu-Words" to Shen Jianshi, the person in charge of the Ballad Research Society of Peking University, who published them in the "Ballad" weekly, 1925.

Issue 82, published on March 25).

This article of his was the first article to introduce "Hua 'er" in northwest China to the whole country, and he became the first person in my country to report "Hua' er" to the outside world.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Yuan served as a professor at the Beijing Graduate School of Wuhan Geology.

On the 70th anniversary of the founding of Peking University's "Ballad" weekly, Liu Kai, a researcher on Qinghai's "Hua 'er", interviewed and wrote an article to evaluate him.

[10]

Among the folk artists at Peking University who advocated the collection of folk literature and art at the beginning of the century, Chen Wanli was the first to go deep into the west to conduct an inspection.

Chen Wanli began his westward inspection on February 15, 1925, passing through Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Fenglingdu, Tongguan, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Suzhou, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, and Anxi, and then turned back and returned from Suzhou to Lanzhou to Xi'an, while Shanzhou and Zhengzhou returned to Beijing.

Observe, interview, and take photos along the way, and one diary published in Peking University Guoxue Weekly).

The temples, scenery, customs, customs, and events recorded along the way are of great cultural and social historical value.

They are extremely precious for us to study and restore folk cultural and social scenes in the western region in the early 20th century.

The 100 years of the 20th century have experienced two transformations of the social system and three wars.

The situation has changed violently, and folk culture has undergone changes at an alarming speed.

Many things have disappeared into the clouds of history with the great changes in society.

It can be said that a hundred years are equal to a thousand years.

This kind of cultural change has never been seen in China before the 19th century.

Now that we reread Chen Wanli's diary, the customs pictures and folk customs are inadvertently displayed in front of our eyes.

Chen Wanli is multi-talented.

He is both a school doctor at Peking University and a researcher at the Institute of National Studies.

He has expertise in photography, cultural relics, and folk customs.

He has published a variety of works, including photo collections.

However, he has not seen a single edition of his diary of traveling westward.

The folk photos among them are particularly precious.

Liu Bannong was one of the founders of the Peking University Ballads Research Society and the first scholar in the history of modern literature in China to advocate the collection of ballads.

On June 19, 1934, in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Swedish scholar Dr.

Sven Anders,Heding, 1865--1952), Liu Bannong, together with Bai Dizhou and others from the Mandarin Unification Committee, left Peiping for Suiyuan to collect folk songs and ballads.

He personally made field surveys of ballads in Suiyuan, Ningxia, Shanxi, and the narrow and narrow areas of northern Hebei, and collected a large number of local "mountain climbing songs." His Suiyuan survey not only made records with a pen, but also carried a tape recorder and recorded 7 drums of folk songs.

Therefore, it was the first scientific field survey of this century in the history of China folk literature.

The places I visited were Baotou, Suixi, Anbei, Wuyuan, Linhe, Guyuan, Pingxian, Tuoxian, Hohhot, Wuchuan, Fengzhen, Jining, Taolin, Xinghe, Qingshui, Liangcheng, Bailing Temple, Datong, Yanbei, Zhangjiakou and other places.

Also on the edge of the Yellow River, the boatman was recorded and the herdsmen's life was inspected in the yurts.

He contracted regressive fever on the way and died in Peiping on July 14 of the same year.

Fortunately, he collected mountain climbing songs from Suiyuan to Ningxia, as well as a brush-copied manuscript considered to be his manuscript, are passed down to life and are hidden in the data room of the China Folk Literary and Art Association.

[11]

Another pioneer in the collection of "Hua 'er" was Zhang Yaxiong.

He has been engaged in news editing and interviewing work in Lanzhou since 1928.

He spent ten years in his spare time collecting and recording more than 3000 "flowers" from shepherd boys, porters, petty workers, driver, farm labourers, students, typesetting workers and friends.

When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he left the distant northwest plains, took this manuscript of Huaer Collection with him, and moved to Chongqing.

This "Flower Collection" was finally published in Chongqing in January 1940.

In the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to the northwest from Chongqing again.

From January 1944 to April 1947, he stayed in Qinghai for another three and a half years, continuing the collection of "flowers".

In the 1940s, a large number of literary and artistic workers in Yan 'an went deep into the Jiefang District of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia, Jinsui, and Shanxi-Chaji to collect folk literary and artistic works orally from the people in the border areas.

Different from the collection methods used by individuals from friends in the era of the Peking University Ballads Research Society, they were organized and directly collected orally from the inheritors, so they became an important genre in the history of China folk literature.

They are represented by He Qifang Lu Xun Academy of Literature and Art, Lu Ji China Folk Music Research Association, Zhou Wen Border Area Mass Reading Society, Ke Zhongping, Linshan Border Area Cultural Association, etc., and have made historic achievements in three fields: songs, stories, and storytelling.

The results of its collection and recording are represented by "Northern Shaanxi Folk Songs" New Literature and Art Press, 1952) and "Selected Folk Songs in the Old Base Areas of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia" Music Press, 1957).

At that time, the original materials collected and recorded were missing, while the latter were hidden in the Institute of Folk Music of the Central Conservatory of Music.

Literary and art workers in Yan 'an, including some poets, such as Li Ji and Yan Chen, are collecting and recording folk literature and art in accordance with scientific principles; they are different from the popular personal literary works created by writers and poets who learn from folk literature.

30-40 In the 1990s, there were also a group of folk literature and art scholars who had made great contributions to the collection and protection of folk culture of various ethnic groups in the Southwest.

Among these people, the first ones worthy of praise are ethnographers Ling Chunsheng and Rui Yifu, who were conducting field surveys in western Hunan at the order of Cai Yuanpei, leader of the Academia Sinica.

Their "Investigation Report on the Miao Nationality in Xiangxi" was published in 1947) is a summary of the results of their surveys on the Miao people in the border areas of Fenghuang, Qiancheng and Yongsui counties from May to August 1933.

The first volume is the investigation report, and the second volume is folk literature works, including myths, legends, fables, and interesting folk stories).

They were recorded according to the dictation of the Miao narrator and strictly in accordance with the scientific principles of folklore and linguistics.

The folk literary and artistic works they collected have become indispensable materials for future generations to study and understand the ethnic minorities in Southwest China, and are also the cornerstone of the discipline of folk literature in China.

After the July 7th Incident, half of China fell under the iron heel of Japanese imperialism, and many universities in the north and coastal areas were forced to move to the southwest.

Changsha, Kunming, Guiyang, Guilin, Liuzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing have gathered a large number of humanistic scientists, writers and artists.

Academia Sinica also moved to Lizhuang, Nanxi County, Sichuan.

Southwest China became the academic center of wartime China.

At a time when the nation is in danger, the national spirit and national cohesion have become the spiritual force for the Chinese nation to unite and resist aggression.

Under this new situation, ethnographers, archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and folklorists have turned their attention to the living folk oral literature of the ethnic minorities in the southwest border areas, and with their respective achievements, they have greatly expanded the previous scope of studying Central Plains culture and interpreting Chinese studies solely based on literature.

It enriches and enhances the character of my country's social humanities.

Folk literature has never been so valued by academic circles, nor has it had such a strong influence on humanities and social sciences.

The spring city of Kunming has gathered a large number of well-known scholars who were originally engaged in the study of southwest ethnic social culture and turned to southwest ethnic social culture.

Among local scholars, such as Chu Tunan, Xu Jiarui, Fang Guoyu, Meng Wentong, Li Lincan, etc.

The myths and legends of those people collected by Li Lincan are the first batch of scientific materials on folk literature of the Naxi people in the history of modern folk literature and art.

in China.

Foreign scholars include professors from Southwest Associated University, which consists of Peking University, Tsinghua University and Tianjin Nankai University, such as Wen Yiduo, Zhu Ziqing, You Guoen, Ma Yunkui, etc.

Ma Changshou, an ethnographer at National Central University.

Gu Jiegang, Yang Chengzhi, and Chen Xujing, who later moved to Pingshi, Guangdong, were later transferred to Nankai University to serve as directors of the Institute of Economics, studying Southwest Social Culture), Luo Xianglin, Jiang Yingliang, and Cen Jiawu were later transferred to Nankai University, and then to Daxia University), Wang Xingrui, and Luo Zhiping.

Under the guidance of Wen Yiduo and Zhu Ziqing, Liu Zhaoji collected and edited "Southwest Collection of Wind" from the people along the way on his way to Kunming.

In Guiyang, Wu Zelin and his colleagues, students Chen Guojun, Li Zhiren, Zhang Shaowei, etc., from the Department of Sociology of Daxia University in Shanghai who moved to Guizhou, conducted a large number of field surveys and collected songs and myths and legends of many ethnic minorities, mainly branches of the Miao people.

They successively published "The Life of Black Miao in Lushan" and "Guizhou Miao Yi Ballad".

The situation cannot be fully described here.

[12]What is important is that the gathering of folk literature and art workers from all walks of life to the Southwest during the Anti-Japanese War and the achievements they achieved showed, on the one hand, the rise of national awareness and patriotism among folk artists in the face of national crisis, and on the other hand, it also shows that folk literature and art are an important factor in national cohesion.This is an example in the history of folk literature and art and even humanities in China.

This spirit should be vigorously carried forward today.

September 6, 2004

This article is a speech delivered at the "Western Humanities Resources Forum" sponsored by China Academy of Art on September 12, 2004)

[1]See my article "Preface to Jia Zhen's Selected Folk Songs of Northwest Jin Dynasty", published by Writers Publishing House.

[2]Zhang Yaxiong,"Hua 'er Ancient and Modern Talk", Beijing: Folk Literature Forum, No.

2, 1982.

[3]Sun Shuqing,"The Origin of" Hua 'er "-Discussion on" Hua' er "3", Xining: Qinghai Lake, No.

6, 1962.

[4]Gorky's "Literature of the Soviet Union", see "Selected Essays on Gorky's Literature", translated by Meng Chang, on page 336, People's Literature Publishing House, 1958.

[5]Li Zehou,"The Course of Beauty", p.

10, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1981.

[6]An Deming,"Extraordinary Dialogue between Heaven and Man-A Study on Farming Disaster Relief in Tianshui Area, Gansu", China Social Science Press, 2003.

[7]Peng Jinshan,"Longdong Customs", pp.

183-184, Dunhuang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2001.

[8]See the Chinese version of the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage), officially adopted by the 32nd Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, October 17, 2003.

[9]Yan Wenming's "Preface to Li Shaoming's" The Source of Chinese Civilization ", pages 2-3, Henan People's Publishing House, April 1992.

[10]Liu Kai,"Ballad Weekly" and Seventy Years of Research on Flowers "," Western Flowers ", p.

371388, Guangxi Nationalities Publishing House, 1995.

[11]My book "Liu Bannong: The Initiator of the Ballad Movement", see Beijing: "Folk Culture" Academic Issue), No.

1, 2001.

[12]The author has also written an article "Socio-Ethnic Schools in the History of Folk Literature and Art-On the Schools of Folk Literature and Art in China in the 20th Century." For a more detailed description, see Kunming: "Ethnic Art Research", No.

6, 2003.

(This article includes "Selected Works of the Western Human Resources Forum" edited by Fang Lili, 1st edition, April 2010 by Xueyuan Press)