The Folk Song Of Life

The ballad is a kind of language which came into being in early ages of human history.After creating language, gradually, our ancestors began their jouney to exploring and developingthe ballad. For the people there, the ballad is not a simple form of laguage, it gives expressionof their inner voices, conveying not only their emotions to the soiety but also the passage of timeand changes.The Manchu ballad is a form of oral literature, which is created collectively by the Manchupeople living in Northeast China. And it is developed during their long-term social and historicallife practice. Like a mirror, the Manchu ballad reflects not only the development of the Manchuhistory, but also Manchu people’s living scenes, local customs and practice, as well as their folkcultures. The Manchu people express their heartfelt wishes and emotions through the ballad, withtheir spiritual civilization developed as well.This thesis contains four chapters in total. The first part is an introduction to the thesis, fromtopic selecting, intended purpose, the overseas and domestic research status, as well assummarizing the research achievements on the Manchu ballad. In next chapter, the authorelaborates the history of Manchu in Northeast China and traces the Manchu ballad back to itssources, giving a detailed introduction to the origin of Manchu ballad and its developing processin the folk literature. In the third chapter, the author introduces the different forms of Manchuballad and the national psychology reflected in it. With the intensive study on the varieties of theManchu ballad, the author holds the view that it is the ballad that continues the collectiveunconscious of the Manchu ancestors for millions of years. In the forth part of the thesis, theauthor shows the research achievements on the cultural connotation reflected in the Manchuballad, with the analyses of Manchu people’s “passion of black soil” and “emotion of ridingarchery” in the ballad. With the imagination of the primitive world, the author gives a deepanalysis on the ballads’ primitive images and their symbolic meanings as well. At last, the authorintroduces the features of Manchu ballad in Northeast China. With the consideration of thepreservation, inheritance and significance of the ballad, the author emphasizes that the purpose of this research is not only to seek for those lost ballads, but also to make the ballad a form ofheritage that could get a permanent updating in the future.