Field Survey And Research On Heyang Folk Songs In Zhangjiagang

Rooted in the area around the Heyang Mountain in Zhangjiagang at Suzhou, Heyangfolk songs have developed their unique artistic charm with their elegant and gentle tunes,natural and warm lyrics, genuine and implicit emotions, as well as exquisite style. As oneimportant branch of the Wu Ballads in the regions south of the Yangtze River, Heyang folksongs, with their long history and profound cultural traditions, have been included in thefirst national intangible cultural heritage list. Rooted in the water environment of the region,spread by people’s word of mouth and featuring the soft Wu-dialect, Heyang folk songsemit a rich fragrance in the spring garden of music. It is regarded as an identity card of thelocal folk music in the Wu region, and also a magnificent flower amongst national folkmusic.The thesis takes Heyang folk songs as research subject, tracing their original creationfrom the natural environment, art history and the local production mode. The thesisanalyzes artistic characteristics from the rhythm, musical scales and mode, as well as thetechnique of expression. The protection and inheritance of the value of the heritage is alsodescribed in detail. In addition, this thesis makes an analysis and proposition for itsheritage protection in combination with the writer’s field visit. Based on the analysis of thefolk songs’ artistic characteristics and its inheritance and development, this thesiscontributes to the study of Heyang folk songs and the and the music cultural constructionin the Suzhou area.