Mongolian Non-material Cultural Heritage

Horsehead Zither, a bowed stringed instrument with a scroll carved a horse's head,is called "morinhuur" in Mongolian, is one of the most representative musical instruments of Mongolian nationality. In some point, the Horsehead Zither is the symbol of Mongolian tradition music culture, even the entire Mongolian traditional culture. The Horsehead Zither is originally one of the Mongolian ordinary numerous musical instruments,but from 1950s on,with the joint effort of Sangdureng and Zhang Chunhua,who are the representatives of manufacturer and performer, the Horsehead Zither has completed gradually transformed from "the tradition" to"the modern", and has gotten a unceasing status and the function,and now becomes the symbol of Mongolian tradition music culture. On November 7,2003, Horsehead Zither tradition music applied for by Mongolia was selected in "the humanity oral and the non-material cultural heritage" of UNESCO .On June 2,2005, State Council announces name list of "the first batch of state-level non-material cultural heritage", Horsehead Zither was included.The reason that Horsehead Zither can become the symbol of tradition music culture of Mongolian nationality lies in:on the one hand,the construction, timbre, performance style, the performance program and so on has its own characteristic, on the other hand, in the vicissitude process from "traditional culture" to "the modernization",the production and life style of the prairie has profoundly changed, many cultural things on behalf of the prairie are gradually on the decline, but Horsehead Zither,as the symbolic status of prairie pasture cultural of Mongolian nationality has established and highlighted gradually in this cultural vicissitude process.The cultural vicissitude is the inevitable route of the human being,which is also the important topic of ethnology or cultural anthropology.The vicissitude of traditional Horsehead Zither to the modern Horsehead Zither is a miniature of Mongolian music culture, even the entire traditional culture vicissitude,in which can reflect the vicissitude path of Mongolian traditional culture,as well as the non-material culture change,such as Mongolian thought, understanding, idea and so on in the vicissitude process. The traditional horse's head qin to the modern horse's head qin's vicissitude The traditional Horsehead Zither is a broad concept, in fact,it is a general name of the Horsehead Zither before the modern Horsehead Zither has came into being. The modern Horsehead Zither was refers to that has unificated and the standard modern moral character ones which has foemed gradually from the 1950s on. The vicissitude of Horsehead Zither is a series of three-dimensional, comprehensive process from the construction, the production process, the performance technique, the performance style, the performance program, the symbolic significance and so on.Among them, the construction and the production process vicissitude is the material base; the performance technique and the performance style's vicissitude is main content; the program's vicissitude is carrier; the symbolic significance's vicissitude is the connotation and the extension.The materials in the dissertation mainly came from two aspects. One part are related research work, article, teaching material, audio and video material and so on on Horsehead Zither.Another part, also the main part is the first materials including the understanding from the author's many years experience of playing Horsehead Zither, on-the-spot investigation, interviews with the folk entertainer and music theoretician. Although Horsehead Zither is one of Mongolian most important musical instruments, but so far did not have special study on it, specially been short for multi-disciplinary special study,from the view of ethnology or cultural anthropology,connetcted with art study, history, linguistics and so on..This dissertation hope to provide a beneficial exploration to it as well as a special study on the non-material cultural heritage's protection and inheritance,through the systematic and comprehensive explanation to Horsehead Zither.The full text was divided into two parts:the introduction and the main text. The introduction introduced mainly the reason for the topic, the material collection situation and the research mentality, innovation and so on. The main text was mainly composed of 6 chapters.The first chapter: Horsehead Zither under traditional and modern linguistic environment This chapter mainly discussed the different explanation for the concept of Horsehead Zither under different linguistic environments.The second chapter: the cultural vicissitude of construction, production process of Horsehead Zither.At first elaborated on the basic situation of construction and the production process and so on of both the traditional Horsehead Zither and the modern Horsehead Zither. And then tried to explore the reason and background for the vicissitude from the traditional Horsehead Zither to the modern Horsehead Zither about the construction and the production process change,an well as the taboo.The third chapter:.performance technique, performance style and vicissitude of Horsehead Zither. The performance technique and the performance style are Horsehead Zither's core characteristics. This chapter made a comparison in performance technique and the performance style between the traditional Horsehead Zither and the modern Horsehead Zither.,analylizd the music style difference among the various clans'and tribes' of Mongolian and the influence and the mutual influence result resulted in the vicissitude process from the traditonal Horsehead Zither to the modern music Horsehead Zither.The fourth chapter:Horsehead Zither performance program and cultural vicissitude. The performance program is Horsehead Zither's culture vicissitude carrier, because whether the technique or the style vicissitude manifest specifically through the program vicissitude.:The fifth chapter: Horsehead Zither's inheritance way and vicissitude. The inheritance way's vicissitude is a main symbol of vicissitude from the traditional Horsehead Zither to the modern Horsehead Zither,which is core content of Horsehead Zither's culture vicissitude.The change is essentially a vicissitude from the folk inheritance way to the school regular inheritance way.The sixth chapter: Horsehead Zither's symbolic significance and vicissitude. Horsehead Zither's symbolic significance has the different explanation along with the time and the production life's vicissitude. The symbolic significance's change exactly has also reflected present situation of traditional culture vicissitude of Mongolian nationality.From the comparisons of construction, the production process, the performance technique and the performance style, the performance program, the inheritance way, the symbolic significance between the traditional Horsehead Zither and modern Horsehead Zither,got both's cultural extension and the difference, inquired about the characteristic and the cultural rule during the historic course from the traditional Horsehead Zither to the modern Horsehead Zither.