Gongguan Wooden Fish

Guangxi
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Gongguan Muyu is a traditional storytelling art of the people in the Hakka areas of Hepu and Beihai. The content is mostly warning and persuading people to be good. When singing, they sing while beating and praise things. It is a magnificent and unique flower of Hakka folk art. Gongguan Muyu, this name is popular in the areas of Beihai Hepu where Hakka is spoken, and in other places where Hakka is spoken, such as Lianjiang, Guangdong, Maoming, etc., it is also called "Ya Muyu (Ya refers to Hakka)". In the early days, wooden fish songs were all composed and sung at the same time, and later the lyrics were recorded, copied, or printed and sung. In recent years, Gongguan Muyu has added many new era elements, and it is more popular among the people in the Hakka area. In order to inherit the intangible cultural heritage and promote national culture, during the Spring Festival, Hepu County held a folk traditional art performance in the county. "Gongguan Muyu" with its high-pitched, bright and fluent singing skills reflects the distinctive Hakka cultural color and has become a highlight of the performance. Since the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Hakka people have moved south to settle in Zhakou Town, Gongguan Town, Quzhang Township, and Baisha Town in Hepu County. During the Jiajing period, folk artists made up a set of tunes called "Peony Flower" based on the events that happened in Gongguan Lianhu Academy. They sang in Hakka dialect and used wooden fish in their hands as props for accompaniment. Gongguan Town is the cultural center of Hakka people, so it is called "Gongguan Wooden Fish", and some people call it "Peony Flower". The people of Gongguan Town and Quzhang Township in Hepu County, men, women, old and young, can sing it, and it is a tune that the masses love to hear and hear. During the Jiajing period, Zhang Wuye in Lianzhou Prefecture saw that the folk girl Mudanhua was smart and beautiful, so he forcibly took her into the mansion and occupied her as a concubine. At that time, more than a dozen scholars from Lianhu Academy (the old site is in Quzhang Township today, on the side of the Gongguan to Quzhang road) were very angry when they learned about this. They rushed to the government to protest and demanded that the girl be returned to them, but they were outnumbered and were arrested and put in jail. The villagers were grateful for the scholars' spirit of righteousness and raised money to provide them with lamp oil and writing. The scholars struggled in prison while studying poetry and books. After a few months, Zhang Wuye was helpless with the pressure of the people and released the scholars and peony flowers. After being released from prison, the scholars happened to catch up with the imperial examination. As a result, several of them passed the examination. When the good news came, the villagers held a banquet to celebrate. During the banquet, the artists came up with a plan and made up the tune of "Peony Flower" to sing the happy event. Soon, the story of Peony Flower and the scholars spread among the people. From then on, "Peony Flower" became a popular tune passed down. The characteristic of Gongguan Muyu is that the tone is determined according to the voice of Hepu Gongguan dialect. Generally, there are seven-character sentences, two sentences rhyme, and the tail cavity after the sentence. The melody is ups and downs. Every two sentences of lyrics are sung in the same tune, which is beautiful and full of local characteristics.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

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