Journal article
Recreating “traditional” folk epics in contemporary China: The politics of textual transmission
AE McLaren, EY Zhang
Asian Ethnology | NANZAN UNIV, NANZAN INST RELIGION & CULTURE | Published : 2017
Abstract
In the pre-contemporary period, farming communities living on the shores of Lake Tai in China’s lower Yangzi Delta sang lengthy song-cycles about ancestral heroes, legendary figures, and amorous encounters while laboring in the fields. These folk songs, known as shange, were regarded as “vulgar” in the imperial era and repressed in the early decades of socialist China. However, in the contemporary period they have come to be regarded as gems of the Han Chinese folkloristic tradition. Leading examples are hailed as rare examples of epic-length sung narratives transmitted by Han Chinese communities, the majority population in China. Due to the economic transformations of recent decades, shange..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Anne McLaren wishes to express her sincere appreciation to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange for providing fieldwork and research assistance funding for this project ("The Cultural Heritage of the Lower Yangzi Delta"). Both authors wish to thank Chen Qinjian of East China Normal University for his inspiring influence on our projects in Chinese popular culture over many years. We also wish to express our gratitude to members of the Culture Bureau of Luxu, Jiangsu Province, and members of the Cultural Center, Fenxiang village, Dingzha, Zhejiang Province, for their assistance with this project. Zhang Fanglan of Luxu provided us with his enthusiastic assistance during several visits to Luxu.