A mini-documentary about Poya ge shu (坡芽歌书, also spelled Poya geshu, literally "Poya songbook," and called Buwa fen, 布瓦吩, in the Zhuang language), also known as Poya qingge (坡芽情歌, literally "Poya love songs"), an extraordinary tradition of the Zhuang people (Zhuang zu, 壮族) of Funing County (富宁县), Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (文山壮族苗族自治州), eastern Yunnan province, southwest China, which borders Guangxi to the north, east, and southeast; and Vietnam's Hà Giang Province to the south. This tradition has its basis in a unique manuscript written on local cloth, first discovered in Funing County in February 2006, featuring 81 distinct symbols, each of which represents a song about some aspect of love and courtship, encoding the essence of the song's lyrics (which comprise a total of 762 verses) in pictographic form. Taken in their entirety, the (separate but interrelated) songs encoded in the manuscript, which has been handed down through multiple generations of the Nong family of Poya Village, chronicle the emotional journey of a young man and a woman who meet, get to know one another, fall in love, and grow old together. Many of the songs are of a strongly emotional character, capable of drawing tears from a listener who is able to understand the lyrics. After careful collection, study, translation, and documentation, the Poya ge shu was first published in book form in 2009. The singing of such love songs among the Zhuang people is believed to date back to the pre-Qin period, retaining some aspects of the songs of the era of China's "Shi Jing" 《诗经》 (Book of Songs or Classic of Poetry), and thus making it one of China's oldest living musical traditions. Zhao Liming, director of the Committee of Women’s Script (Nüshu) of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, holds the view that the symbols found in the Poya manuscript are older than the Dongba script, another pictographic language of the Naxi ethnic group of southwest China. Poya ge shu has consequently been referred to as "living fossil" of Chinese music. Currently, more than 20 inhabitants of Poya Village are able to perform these songs based on the symbols contained in the manuscript. The local government established a Poya ge shu learning center in the village, as well as a Poya ge shu choir, which was formally established in 2012, and has since toured China and performed around the world. Filmed primarily in Poya Village (坡芽村, comprising 56 households with a total population of 312, 99% of whom are Zhuang), a tiny natural village (Chinese: ziran cun, 自然村; i.e., one that spontaneously and naturally exists within rural area, rather than representing an administrative division) under the jurisdiction of Jia Village (甲村), Bao'ai Town (剥隘镇), Funing County (富宁县), Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (文山壮族苗族自治州), eastern Yunnan province, southwest China, c. October 31, 2017. Featured in the film are a number of master performers of Poya geshu, including Ms. Nong Fengmei (农凤妹, b. 1965), who holds the status of National-Level Transmitter of the Intangible Cultural Heritage item of Poya love songs (国家级非物质文化遗产项目坡芽情歌传承人); and Ms. Nong Liying (农丽英), Province-Level Transmitter of the item of Poya love songs (坡芽情歌项目省级传承人). The Zhuang, who number approximately 18 million and speak a group of languages in the Tai family, are the second largest ethnic group in China (making up 1.27% of China's population) after the Han (who make up 91.6% of China's population). In 2011 the tradition of Poya love songs, centering on Funing County (富宁县), Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (文山壮族苗族自治州), eastern Yunnan province, southwest China, was included in the Third Batch of 191 traditions inscribed in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China (第三批国家级非物质文化遗产名录) by China's Ministry of Culture (中华人民共和国文化部, known since March 2018 as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 中华人民共和国文化和旅游部). The sub-agencies responsible for maintaining these lists, both under the aegis of the aforementioned ministry, are the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage (文化部非物质文化遗产司) and the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (中国非物质文化遗产保护中心, CICHPC). 坡芽歌书宣传片 More information: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%9D%A1%E8%8A%BD%E6%AD%8C%E4%B9%A6/7129147 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%9D%A1%E8%8A%BD%E6%83%85%E6%AD%8C https://www.sohu.com/a/304198522_175761 http://www.yn.chinanews.com/news/2020/0417/56416.html https://archive.shine.cn/feature/Oldest-peacock-dance-a-guy-thing/shdaily.shtml https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E5%9D%A1%E8%8A%BD%E6%AD%8C%E4%B9%A6 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%86%9C%E5%87%A4%E5%A6%B9/22841867 http://baike.chinaso.com/wiki/doc-view-377848.html https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%9D%A1%E8%8A%BD%E6%9D%91/154650 http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/english/culture/2015-05/28/content_689894.htm

• published: 25 Dec 2020
• views: 321