OMG！《CHINA DAILY》花式点赞汉中！只因……

With a song in his heart and singing a melodious  tune  from  the mountainous  area, Zhou Tinghuai stands at the door of a  villager  in  Nanzheng  district  of Hanzhong city in Shaanxi province. With a bag slung over his shoulder, he  carries  a  carved  figurine  of  a farmer riding a bull. 

At  the  door  he  sings:  “When  I enter the door, the joy arrives, like a god proffering a gift, that a precious horse laden with gold. This is a prosperous region, and a gifted money tree as a godsend arrives.”

The lyrics represent joy and harmony, so no matter who listens, they will feel blessed, he believes. 

Zhou,  62,  has  been  engaged  in singing for spring blessings for more than 40 years. Since the mid­1970s, he began visiting villagers in the Qinling­Bashan  Mountains.  He  hopes his performance will help give them a feeling of the joy of the season. 

Zhou is one of the 48 chunguan, or folk artisans who give the blessings of spring to villagers in rural areas of southern Shaanxi. Every year from the 10th lunar month to the end of the first lunar month of the new year, he  crosses  mountains  to  sing  and also give them tips on farming. 

The custom actually began with an emperor realizing the best way to give farming advice to rural people would be to sing to them. 

He  will  present  a  spring  poster printed using woodblocks as a gift, on which are displayed the four seasons and 24 solar terms, as well as advice about when to sow. 

The  scene,  part  of  the  traditioncalled  “chunguan singing spring”, has been preserved for thousands of years. It is also a kind of ancient storytelling folk art.  

In 2007, the folk art of chunguan singing spring was among the first batch of intangible cultural heritage activities to be listed in Shaanxi by the provincial government. 

In winter and spring every year, Zhou  and  Mao  Yongcheng,  57,  an apprentice of Zhou,  who’s also a native of Nanzheng, visit villagers’homes together, and they each usually give a solo performance. Sometimes  when  entering  streets  or densely populated villages, they will sing in unison. 

After the performance, Zhou will give a spring­themed poster to people of the household, who in turn give grains (rice and soybeans) or some money to them. 

“Our performance is not limited by place or music,” says Zhou. “The content of the lyrics is quite extensive  and  inherited  by  apprentices from generation to generation.

“We  will  sometimes  ad­lib  by what we see, and speak accordinglybased  on  who  we  meet,”  he  says, adding that the lyrics of what they sing often emerge on the spot. 

The language is witty and humorous.  The  content  of  the  singing closely keeps up with the time sand the lyrics change to accommodate that, according to Zhou. 

“Therefore, the rule I follow when accepting  apprentices  is  to  find those who are intelligent, quick to respond, educated and have strong speaking ability,” says Zhou. 

Historical records show that the activity originated in the Sui Dynasty (581­618) and thrived in the Tang Dynasty (618­907). 

Legend  has  it  that  in  ancient times, farmers didn’t know the exact farming  seasons,  so  they  plowed and sowed at will. As a result, harvests were often bad, due to poor timing when sowing crops. 

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, officials  involved  in  formulating  the astronomical calendar at the imperial  court  had  calculated  and worked  out  a  more  accurate  time scale.  Farmers  near  the  ancient imperial  capital  followed  the  new calendar  to  grow  crops  and  got bumper harvests. 

It is said that the Tang emperor at that time was very glad to get the information. To make more people across the country aware of the new calendar, the emperor came up with the way of delivering messages to people from door to door. In a grand festival at the end of one year, the emperor assigned his prime minister, Wang Huai’en, and artists from the imperial palace, to spread the happiness to folks. 

According to the emperor’s will,Wang  wrote  lyrics  involving  good wishes and congratulations, as well as farming seasons and feudal ethical codes, which would be recounted by actors through storytelling to give  people  the guidance  in  an entertaining way.The astronomical calendars and  seasons  were  also printed  onto  posters,  named “Spring  Posters”,  which  would  be given to remind farmers to cultivate on time. 

The Tang Dynasty was one of the most prosperous periods in the history of Chinese civilization. In the imperial court, a chunguan was an official, while among the people, he was  the  person  who  transmitted knowledge to them.  

Wang  Qinghe,  the  curator  of Nanzheng District Cultural Center in Hanzhong city, says that with the advancement of the high technology and the increasing popularity of the internet, the development of the folk  singing  art  has  been  greatly impeded. 

“No matter how these artisans are treated  with  respect  and  become popular among villagers, it’s inevitable that this ancient storytelling folk art  is  declining  and  it’s  becoming more difficult for people to make a living through it,” says Wang Qinghe.

With an average age of 57, these practitioners for the ancient folk art are aging, the oldest being 88 while the youngest is 46, he says. 

Due  to a meager  income,  fewer and fewer young people voluntarily chose to learn this art from senior artisans, according to him. 

“Lyrics, tunes and instruments for the folk art are about to be lost,” he says.

随着一曲悠扬绵长的巴山小调，一位肩背褡裢，手持春牛，满面笑容的汉中春倌准会站在村子里人家的门口，把吉祥喜庆、欢乐祥和用优美的唱词和婉转的曲调娓娓道来，说唱得满堂生春，皆大欢喜。

之后，赠送一张木刻版印制的大红春帖，一年四季，二十四个节气，何时安苗下种，尽在春帖之上。这就是流传千古的春倌说春的一个场景。

　从每年农历十月开始到来年正月月底，汉中春倌们翻巴山，过秦岭，走州过县，走村串户，用说唱的形式，为千家万户送春报喜，传播农时节令。

春倌说春是陕南民间独特的民俗活动之ー，也是较为古老的一种民间说唱艺术。据史料记载，春倌说春“起于隋、兴于唐”。相传在上古时代，农夫因不知道准确的农时节令，耕田种地十分随意，不是早了就是晚了，常常是收获甚少或有种无收。到了隋唐时期，朝廷掌管天文历法的官员推演出了较为准确的历法节令，离皇城较近的农夫按照新历法耕耘播种，农业获得了大丰收。

喜讯传回朝廷，皇帝十分高兴。如何让全国的老百姓都知道新的历法节令，按季节耕种，收获更多的粮食呢？唐朝皇上想出了让专人报信的方式，走村串户，游说百姓。于是，在一次岁末朝廷盛大的喜庆之日，差王丞相(王怀恩)率手下宫廷艺人，去民间送春报喜，让天下百姓也同庆共乐。

春倌说春是民间说唱艺术。在冬春季节由春倌走村串户说唱，一般为单人表演；有时进入街道或住户密集的村庄时，采取双人对唱、接唱和联唱，演唱效果更好。每演完一户，春倌送给一张春帖，户主会给春倌“封礼”，给粮食或钱。这种表演不受场地限制不用乐谱，有说有唱，说唱兼备。唱词内容十分广泛，唱本师传徒承，时常即景编词，遇啥人说啥话，“到什么山唱什么歌”。语言风趣诙谐，演唱和仄押韵。演唱内容紧跟时代，唱词随时随景更换，因此，往往是脑子灵、反应快、有文化、言辩能力强的人，才能成为一个好春倌。