Weishan Yi Playing Song Research

The Pact of Protecting Non-Material Cultural Heritage, which is passed by the United Nation Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) , defines that non-material cultural heritage refers to various practices, performances, expressions, knowledge and skills, related instrument, solid materials, arts and crafts, and cultural occasions which are recognized as cultural heritages by groups, associations, and sometimes individuals. In this perspective, no mater it is regard as an art for entertainment or a cultural expression, the Dage of the Yi people in Weishan is a valuable and typical non-material heritage, which has integrated folk singing, dancing, music together and carried with massive historical information.About 700 B. C, an ancient tribe named Diqiang began to migrate southward to Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan from northwestern Gansu and Qinghai. Then they inosculated with the native tribes and developed into a new ethnic group, i.e. the Yi. After thousand years of multiplication, the Yi people now reside vastly in the southwestern areas as Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Burma, Thailand as well, and thus have become an important international ethnic group. Even to the 20th century, the Yi people still maintained different kinds of social forms and have left behind variouscultural conformations and colorful cultural heritages. The Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, as the seedbed of the Nanzhao Kingdom - a distinctive local government in history established by the ancestors of the Yi, is prominent in geographic location with beautiful environment, plentiful natural resources, splendid Nanzhao cultures, cultures of Daoism, manito cultures, ethnic cultures. All of these cultural heritages have created good ecological and social systems for the existence and inheritance of the Dage of the Yi people.The preeminence and quintessence of the Yi's Dage in Weishan live in its long history, integrated configurations, rich cultural connotations, different values and functions, etc. Divided by locations, there are Dongshan Dage, Maanshan Dage, Wuyin Dage, Qinghua Dage, Weibaoshan Dage, Sishang Dage, etc; if divided by function or purpose, there are Dage for festivals, Dage for rituals, Dage for fairs, Dage for family ceremonies, Dage for buries, etc.; while if observed from the structure, the Dage since its birth has developed into a comprehensive art synthesizing singing, dancing and music in which the music, words of songs and dances are well-formulated and regularly structured. But they also are renewed and changed over time. The Yi's Dage in Weishan indicates cultural feedback, geographic localities, ethnicities, comprehensiveness of arts, characteristics of non-material cultural heritages. Thus it is significant and valuable for inheritance,education, occasions, entertainment, aesthetics, scientific research, identification of groups, tourism, etc.The Yi's Dage in Weishan, after thousand years of development, has been imbedded in many sorts of inheritance carriers such as families, societies, schools, artists and craftsmen, objects, etc. Moreover, the Yi people have built good mechanisms and occasions to transmit this cultural heritage. However, whereas the Yi's Dage in Weishan spreads and develops, it sees itself in a modern dilemma of inheritance. It cries for protection, transmission, exploitation, and application. Basing on careful studying, I in this thesis put forward that protection of the Dage must follow the principles - principle of originality, principle of perfection, principle of science, principle of development. I also recommend some practical instruments and measures to protect, exploit and apply this non-material cultural heritage. I suppose that my study should be helpful and significant to the protection task of the Yi's Dage in Weishan and simultaneously will has provided a possible case to protect non-material cultural heritages of the human beings.