*Leizhou Folk Song

2.*Leizhou Folk Song

Nominating Unit: City of Zhanjiang

Leizhou Folk Songs are ballads popular in Leizhou Peninsular located in the southernmost of China’s mainland. Mainly distributed in Xuwen County, City of Leizhou and surrounding areas under the jurisdiction of City of Zhanjiang, the songs are also known in Leizhou’s overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Introduced from South Fujian Province, the songs have been mingled with local native culture and surrounding cultures to form its own characteristics. According to Continuation Records of Haikang County, and to Reconstruction of the Imperial Study’s Calligraphy on the Beams written by Li Zhongguang, educator of Leizhou history, there is an account of “listening to the ballads depicting the good deeds”. This proves that Leizhou Songs have been popular since the Song Dynasty.

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Each song has four lines, each line with seven Chinese characters. All together there are twentyeight characters. Sometimes, an extra two to three characters called “Song Prelude”, are added in front of the line. Leizhou Songs have a variety of metrical feet, sometimes as many as thirty-four types. The feet sounds are classified by local accents, with each representing a unique feeling. For example, less strict rhyming feet of “Ge Jia Ye” and “Jian Ji Shi” are used in nursery rhymes like Crow of Little Chicken and Little Cowboys respectively. The “Gai Sha Sen” foot, the narrowest one, is applied during singing contest to conquer its counterparts. There are strict requirements on the use of the rhyming feet. Line one, two and four should be rhymed on the last character with the last character of the first line rhyming on the falling-and-rising tone, that of the second line on level tone, and that of the fourth line on level or rising tone; moreover, the fourth character in line two and line four have to rhyme on a rising or level tone. All these metrical feet fashion Leizhou Songs’ unique features. In this way, when singing, the performer can pause at the fourth character of line one, line two and line four and then continue the lyric, and extend the tone of the fifth or sixth character in the second line.

Leizhou Songs, with rich connotations representing geographical features, changes of history, local rituals and folk customs of City of Leizhou, boast signifi cant historical and cultural value. Therefore, in 2008, it was added to the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage.

In recent years however, Leizhou Songs suffer a lot because of market economy and social changes. Not only youngsters but also seniors have fallen in love with pop songs. Leizhou Folk Songs are on the brink of extinction. In the light of this, immediate measures are called for to stop things from getting worse.