A Study Of Yuexiong Yi People 's Yue

Yueqin is a four-stringed plucked musical instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box. This melodious instrument is very suitable for playing lyric music. The post of playing yueqin looks like hugging a bright moon, which is regard as romantic in Chinese culture. So, this instrument not only loved by Han people, but also popular in minority groups like Yi, Hani, Buyi, Zhuang, etc. It is always played by young men, when they want to attract girls.Yi people loves Da’ge, which is a traditional dance with songs and music. Yueqin is one of the best instruments for playing Da’ge songs, because the sound of yueqin is clear and finger-popping, which is very suitable for enthusiastic music. Chuxiong is one of the most important settlement of Yi, Yi people loves yueqin very much, and they prefer calling it xian’zi, and the quality of xian’zi in Chuxiong is extremely reputable. This study mainly focus on the Yueqin culture of Mouding, and Nanhua, as the yueqin culture of Mouding is the most famous and influential at present, and Nanhua has the longest history of making yueqin, and the yueqin of Nanhua used to be the most famous. Through document literature review, interview, field observation and comparative studies, we hope to make clear the origination of yueqin, as well as the relation between the yueqin of Chuxiong and the traditional yueqin in the Central Plain of China. And we hope to study the details of manufacturing yueqin, and to know about how to play yueqin, and then find out the artistic feature of this instrument, as well as the musical feature of its music. Through interview and field observation, we hope to know the reason, the time, the place and the situation people play yueqin, to find out the social functions of yueqin in Chuxiong. And we also curious about the current situation of yueqin inheritance, including the current value of yueqin, the basic information of several representative craftsmen, the efforts of government as well as native people, and the current measures of protection.Yueqin is a dispensable part of the culture of Yi of Chuxiong, this specialized study of yueqin helps me know the culture of Yi better, it would be a good preparation for my further study on the culture of Chuxiong.