Hunnan Province's Hani ethnic people are believed to have migrated from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. (Photo : China Daily)
The Hani ethnic group in southern Yunnan Province are struggling to keep old traditions alive.
Although it's a mountainous countryside with rough, winding roads, Honghe County, the home of the Hani ethnic group, is being threatened by the encroachment of the modern world. More and more people are leaving the village to seek greener pastures, and the Hani's ethnic musical tradition slowly dies with them.
"It's not a performance. It is a scene from a daily life," said 28-year-old Chen Xialing. She held in her hands a three-stringed instrument. Together with over a hundred members of Puchin Village's Hani ethnic group, Honghe County's terraces were transformed into a musical stage.
"You cannot find many people from my generation singing songs at home. They all leave the village to look for jobs," Chen shared, and she spoke from experience. She had already left the village three times, but returned because of her father.
"She sings well, and deserves to stay here," remarked Chen Xiniang, Chen's father. He is a national-level inheritor of Hani polyphonic music. "But most people singing today are older than 40. In the old days, if you couldn't sing, you cannot do anything. You would never find a girlfriend."
Hani polyphonic folk music was registered as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.
"Hani music has an important function in daily life. People sing to worship ancestors and nature. When I first organized villagers to peform a chorus in front of visitors, they initially refused. They consider the process sacred and secret," shared Wu Zhiming, who works at Honghe County's cultural promotion office.
Despite its rich cultural heritage, the fact remains that practitioners of the genre are not getting any younger. Observers fear that Hani folk music will disappear from the face of the earth soon.
"If traditional Hani music fails to become known by the outside world, it will soon perish," said Zhu Lihong, the deputy director of the prefecture's cultural bureau.
According to Wu, however, the solution to preserve Hani's cultural heritage is to explore Hani festivals and rituals. As of now, the course of action remains unclear. People like Wu and Zhu will continue to listen and observe, while the Chens and the rest of the Hani people sing from their terraces.
