A Research On Zhuang’s Tian Qin Arts And Culture In Guangxi

Tian Qin, which is Zhuang’s ancient musical instrument, has a long history andrich culture connotation. It’s widely popular in the border area of Guang Xi. As oneof the Zhuang’s excellent intangible cultural heritages, it still plays an importantrole in the local social and cultural life.In order to explore the mystery of Tian Qin culture and develop the nationalexcellent traditional culture, this paper takes Zhuang’s branch “Phu Thays” in JinLong town Long Zhou county as a case.Through the fieldwork, I have apreliminary comprehensive research on the ecological environment, historicalorigin, cultural inheritance and development of the Tian Qin culture.This paper argues that the materials Phu Thays choose for making Tian Qin arenot only conforming to physical property of plucked instrument itself but alsoreflecting the “Animalism” of people’s heart. Especially on the shape making,which shows the local Phu Thays’ unique traditional cultural values and nationalaesthetic taste, the exquisite carving and themes on instrument body aresymbolizing the Phu Thays’ spirit world as well.Through the interviews with local residents, Bu Xiang and cultural workers, aswell as the participant observation on religious ceremony, I think that the idea of“mandate of Heaven” has an enormous impact on the spread of Tian Qin in JingLong town. Bu Xiang’s dedication, worship, admiration and loyalty to developingTian Qin culture ultimately leads them to reach the realm of “the unity of Tian Qinand humanity”. The spread of this religious music also reflects the pursuit of BuXiang is the truest and kindest, they are abstinent, respecting teachers andesteeming truth, praying for the grace of God and dispelling the disasters for theirtribe, which is the moral they preach and the rule they follow. As an indispensablereligious skulls used by Bu Xiang, Tian Qin is a kind of carrier of the unity of national music and national religious culture.The paper also focuses on the musical instrument itself, that is I do someobservation, description, recording and analysis on the Tian Qin’s shape, playing,repertoire and other “outside” aspects. Besides, through some short distanceobserving and deep studying, I also do the research on the artist to find therelationship between “Bu Xiang” and “Tian Qin”, the emotional identity createddruing the interaction and other “inside” aspects. Using the perspective of theanthropology of art to interpret Tian Qin culture, I find Tian Qin is a bridge for“human” to communicate with “god”;a magic weapon help “Good”to fight against“Evil”, a hallows to respect the god and entertain people. The functions of TianQin are not only for emotional comfort, education and releasing, but also bringingpeople the enjoyment of the senses and pleasure of aesthetic, what’s more, itenhances Phu Thays’ sense of national identity and cohesion.In my fieldwork, I find there are still some problems for Phu Thays’ Tian Qinculture change and adaptation in the period of social transition, mainly in the lackof civil voice, the generation gap in culture inheritance, short of support fornational music art to the external world and so on. As Zhuang’s excellentintangible cultural heritage, Tian Qin wants to move towards to the world stage,which is full of opportunities and challenges.