A Brief History of the Tujia—Promotion and Innovation of Traditional Tujia Culture (Part One)
Section Four: Promotion and Innovation of Traditional Tujia Culture. To promote traditional Tujia culture, after the founding of New China Tujia artists and ordinary people actively engaged in excavating, reforming, and innovating traditional culture, continually adding contemporary meaning and bringing about the modern transformation of traditional Tujia culture, which has benefited its transmission and development. I. Tujia...
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Section 4 Promotion and Innovation of Traditional Tujia Culture
In order to promote traditional Tujia culture, after the founding of New China, Tujia literary and artistic workers and ordinary people actively carried out the excavation, reform, and innovation of traditional culture, continuously adding contemporary connotations and realizing the modern transformation of traditional Tujia culture, which is conducive to the inheritance and development of Tujia culture.
1. Main manifestations of innovation in traditional Tujia culture
(1) Promoting Tujia song and dance
Folk songs As mentioned earlier, the Tujia region has long been known as a "sea of songs." There are many kinds of folk songs, with broad themes, rich content, and distinctive singing styles. Many folk songs from Tujia areas have been adapted and have become classics of Chinese folk songs and even world folk songs. For example, "Dragon Boat Tune" from Lichuan was originally accompaniment sung by farmers in the Baiyang area of Lichuan when rowing colorful dragon boats. In 1953 Lichuan held its first folk literature and art performance after the founding of New China, and the Baiyang delegation performed a piece called "Planting Melons Tune," with a beautiful melody and witty lyrics. Later, after Huang Yewei and others collected materials and repeatedly processed and reorganized it, it was titled "Dragon Boat Tune." In March 1957, at the Second National Folk Music and Dance Performance Conference, the Enshi Tujia farmer singers Wang Guosheng and Zhang Huatang sang "Dragon Boat Tune" in Beijing for the first time, and it was generally welcomed. Afterward, "Dragon Boat Tune" was sung in different forms across the north and south of the Yangtze River and spread abroad, and was listed as one of the world's 25 famous folk songs. Another example is the Sangzhi folk songs mentioned above. Since the 1950s, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Song and Dance Ensemble of the General Political Department, the Hunan Provincial Song and Dance Ensemble, and other professional colleges and art groups across the country have often come to Sangzhi to collect folk songs. Art experts such as Qin Xixian, Bai Chengren, Lu Song, and Huang Bai greatly praised Sangzhi folk songs. On the basis of absorbing the rich nourishment of Sangzhi folk songs, they created a large number of widely popular works, which were performed many times on the international stage and won praise. Tujia female singers Lou Juxiang and Huang Daoying from Wudaoshui Town, Sangzhi County, successively sang Sangzhi folk songs for Premier Zhou Enlai and Premier Zhu Rongji. The singer Song Zuying sang the Sangzhi folk song "The Horse-Sang Tree and the Lamp Stand" in the Golden Hall of Vienna. When the late famous singer He Jiguang performed in Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, and other places, he sang the Sangzhi folk songs "Chestnut Blossoms in a Single Line" and "Four Seasons Flowers Bloom" as his reserved repertoire. In October 2005, Sangzhi folk songs were named one of the "Top Ten Ethnic Folk Cultural Heritages of Hunan Province," and in May 2006 they were listed by the Ministry of Culture in the first batch of representative works of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Other folk songs sung throughout the country include the Tujia folk song "Huangyang Shoulder Pole" from Xiushan, Chongqing, and so on.
Dance Tujia folk dances are also rich and colorful. Representative dances include the hand-waving dance, the funeral dance, and the bronze bell dance. After processing, reorganizing, and transformation by literary and artistic workers, these dances have frequently been brought to the stage, or have increasingly become new forms of entertainment for the masses. Since the 1980s, under the advocacy of ethnic affairs departments and cultural departments, the traditional Tujia dance, the hand-waving dance, has been promoted. In Enshi Prefecture, in May 2001 Laifeng County successfully held the first hand-waving dance event, displaying the style of Laifeng Tujia hand-waving dance through competition. Following the Laifeng "Hand-Waving Festival," the hand-waving dance quickly spread throughout the prefecture and became a square dance form loved by people of all ethnic groups in counties and cities such as Hefeng, Xuan'en, Xianfeng, and Lichuan. During the "May Day" period of 2002, the Enshi Prefecture Federation of Trade Unions, the Prefecture Ethnic Affairs Commission, and the Prefecture Culture and Sports Bureau jointly held a hand-waving dance competition for prefecture-level staff. In December 2002, Xianfeng County, on the basis of promoting the hand-waving dance throughout the county, held a hand-waving dance competition.
In terms of the transformation of traditional Tujia dance, Changyang County's "Bashan Dance," created on the basis of the Tiaosang (funeral) dance, is an outstanding example. Structurally, Changyang Bashan Dance broke through many old conventions and regional boundaries of the original Tiaosang dance, absorbed the essence of various places, and through refinement and processing, carried out comprehensive utilization and recombined dance elements. For example, the "Wind Sways the Willow" movement in Bashan Dance is a combination of part of the movements from "Falling Fork with Rhinoceros Gazing at the Moon" in the Tiaosang of Qianhe Ziqiu and "Song of Pregnancy" in the Tiaosang of Hou Ziqiu, making it more graceful and lyrical than the original movements; "Four Harmonies" is composed of characteristic movements selected from "Willow," "Four Great Steps," "Waiting for the Corpse," and "Shaking the Mourning" in the Tiaosang; "Half Moon" is a refinement and beautification of selected movements from "Leaf Lotus" in the Tiaosang, with several movements adapted for the newly choreographed group dance. In terms of music, Bashan Dance retained the distinct rhythm and characteristic drumbeats of the original Tiaosang, selected mountain songs and folk tunes familiar to the local people and matching the emotional tone of the dance, developed them as a foundation, and added string accompaniment. For example, the music of "Half Moon" is "Duo Sheng Zi" from mountain songs, the music of "Wind Sways the Willow" is an ancient folk song "Ten Cups of Wine," and the music of "Leaning Body" is the popular folk Huagu song. Through artistic transformation, Bashan Dance not only retains the stylistic characteristics of the Tiaosang dance but is also more graceful in dance posture, more pleasant in music, and more lively in rhythm than the Tiaosang dance, organically combining rich local characteristics, distinct ethnic style, and a strong sense of the times. Many transformed Tujia dances participated in national minority Ulan Muqir-style theatrical performances and all received awards or praise.
(II) Revitalizing Tujia Literary and Artistic Creation
After the founding of New China, Tujia folk literature and art also continued to develop and innovate. In addition to Tujia folk songs and dances, many other art forms such as drama, Quyi (folk performing arts), and musical instruments were also presented to the world in different forms, arousing people's renewed understanding of traditional Tujia artistic forms and their value. For example, after Tujia Nuo opera was unearthed in the early 1980s, troupes were organized in various places to participate in various forms of theatrical performances, and Nuo opera troupes from Sinan, Dejiang, and other places in northeastern Guizhou even performed abroad many times.
In terms of literary and artistic works, Tujia literary works, music, dance, opera, and painting borrowed new artistic forms to express traditional cultural connotations, or injected new life content into traditional artistic forms. After the reform and opening up, literary and art workers mostly used television and film to artistically express Tujia culture and to publicize and disseminate Tujia history and folk customs. In 1982, Hubei Film Studio produced the first film reflecting Tujia customs in western Hubei, "Spring Comes to the Tujia." In 1999, Hubei Film Studio produced the film "Young People of Bizika" (also known as "Rare Love"), reflecting Tujia customs in Enshi Prefecture. In addition, after the establishment of the Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Western Hubei, ethnic affairs departments organized forces to produce a number of television feature programs reflecting the local customs of ethnic minorities in western Hubei. From 1984 to 1990, those who participated in filming successively included: the series "Journey to Western Hubei" and "Chinese Tujia" produced by CCTV; and television feature programs such as "The Cradle of Tujia in Western Hubei—Qingjiang," "Golden Jianshi," "Where Tujia and Miao Live Together," "The Majestic Town of Jingnan Shows Its Splendor," "Collection of Ethnic and Folk Dances," "Tujia Customs," and "Tigers Roar over Qingjiang" produced by Hubei Provincial Television Station. After the 1990s, the Prefecture Ethnic Affairs Commission assisted Western Hubei Television in producing the television feature program "Eight Hundred Li of Qingjiang," reflecting Tujia customs in Enshi Prefecture. The number of song-and-dance or drama creations also increased greatly. Tian Maozhong, a Tujia singer from Xiangxi, composed and sang more than 130,000 new mountain songs. His newly composed folk songs were not only deeply loved by people in Tujia mountain villages but also spread to other parts of the country. Tian Shixue from Laifeng County also created more than 10,000 new mountain songs since the 1950s, and his mountain songs have strong ethnic and local characteristics. Song-and-dance or song-and-dance drama works such as "Sheba Music," "Fierce Ba People," "Hunting," "Fire Pit," and "Mountain People," and Tujia dramas such as "Badong Tang Opera," "Enshi Lantern Opera," "Hefeng Liuzi Opera," "Hefeng Nuo Vow Opera," "Jianshi Silk-String Gong and Drum," "Nan Opera," "Hand-Waving Dance of the Youshui River Basin," and "Tujia Instrumental Music Culture," collected and created by literary and art workers in Enshi Prefecture, all have very strong Tujia characteristics. Many painters also created many works reflecting the nature and humanities of Tujia areas, such as Yang Minggui's "Tujia Mountain Village" and Deng Rong's "Tujia Customs." In addition, there are a large number of novels, scripts, and other literary works created against the background of Tujia history and cultural life.
(III) Establishing Tujia Cultural Ecological Protection Zones
In order to achieve integrated or specialized protection and inheritance of Tujia culture, local governments and relevant departments, after careful selection, have built some places with strong Tujia culture as cultural ecological protection zones. Enshi Tusi City, as a key project of the Tujia cultural landmark project of Enshi Prefecture, has been completed in Enshi Prefecture city and opened to the public. As a base for concentrated display of Tujia culture, the social function of Enshi Tusi City is being realized. In addition, a large number of protective landmark projects for ancient ethnic cultural relics, such as the Rongmei Tusi Cultural Corridor in Hefeng, the Shemihu Folk Village in Laifeng, the Tangya Tusi Imperial City Folk Village in Xianfeng, the Dashuijing Ancient Building Complex in Lichuan, and Yumu Village, are all conducive to the overall protection of Tujia culture.
In Xiangxi, the protection scope of Tujia cultural ecological protection bases has also been basically determined. With Liye Town in Longshan County as the base window, Liye Town, Xichehe Town, Miao'ertan Town, Longtou Town, Dianfang Town, Nongche Township, and Tasha Township in Longshan County; Lingxi Town, Shouche Town, Liangcha Township, Xiqi Township, Shaoha Township, Daba Township, Duishan Township, Zejia Town, Furong Town, and Xiaoxi Township in Yongshun County; Duanlongshan Township and Hongshilin Town in Guzhang County; Qianling Town, Wanmipo Town, and Qingshuiping Town in Baojing County; and Tanxi Town in Luxi County are to be built and protected as five Tujia cultural ecological protection points. In addition, as a special form of cultural ecological protection, local governments and relevant departments in Xiangxi have also, according to the local characteristics of Tujia customs, classified and planned Tujia cultural research bases to strengthen the complete protection of Tujia characteristic culture. For example, ancestor worship ritual bases include Shawan Village, Bamao Township, Baojing County; Shuangfeng Village, Heping Township, Yongshun County; Suzhu Village, Pojiao Township, Longshan County; and Tubi Village, Longxi Town, Baojing County. The Tujia folk custom base is the Tujia Folk Custom Exhibition Center at Bu'ermen in Yongshun County. The Tujia epic base is Tianjiadong in Guzhang County. Tujia dance bases are Neixi Town in Longshan County, Wangcun in Yongshun County, Angdong Township in Baojing County, and Guyang Town in Guzhang County. Tujia music bases are Pojiao Township and Dianfang Township in Longshan County, and Shiti Town in Yongshun County.