Dongshan Songbooks

  

  

Dongshan, a county in East China's Fujian Province, is famous for "Dongshan Gece," or Dongshan Songbooks, lyrics of traditional local songs that have been handed down for centuries.

Starting as early as the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Dongshan Songs evolved from the Chaozhou songs of neighboring Guangdong Province. Dongshan Songs integrate traditional local music, such as Nanyin, which originated in Quanzhou, and has developed into a unique art form in its own right.

The art form itself

The art form is called a "Singing Songbook," because one person intonates a long poem. Verses are plain and rhythmic, with smooth beats in the vocals. Some examples from the art form's repertoire include Wanhua Lou, Cui Mingfeng, Chen Shimei, Fengjiao and Lee Dan, The Legend of Sui and Tang Dyansties, Xu Gang Revolts against Tang, Fishing Girl, and the Net Weaving Song.

Dongshan Talking and Singing was popular among women before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The art form taught women about history, society and polite behavior in a time when education for women was otherwise limited.

Singing from the songbook is considered an honor, and it has become a custom to give the songbook as a dowry to brides, and sing from it at wedding ceremonies.

Widely-spread in Taiwan and Southeast Asia

Parts of the original copies have survived to this day. The song books were also called Women's Books as most of the singers were women.  
  

The practice of performing traditional tunes from songbooks is widespread. Residents of Malaysia and Singapore, who have roots in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong provinces, have continued the practice. Immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao also bring their song volumes with them when they return to their hometowns to visit.

In 2006, Huang Linwen, an 80-year-old from Taiwan, went back to his hometown - Dongshan in Fujian Province - to celebrate the Mid-Autumn day after a long journey. He donated two precious hand-written copies of "Yang Silang Visits His Mother" and "Xue Dingshan's Warpath" to the cultural sectors in Dongshan County. He brought the two song volumes to Taiwan in 1956, and cherished them for more than half a century since. Huang said he was very excited to hear that Dongshan Songbooks were listed among the first national intangible cultural heritage items, and said Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan straits should aid in the preservation of this example of cultural heritage.