Music of the Huns

The Huns are known as one of the great ethnic minorities that embarked on the historical stage of the Mongolian Plateau. In terms of culture and arts, the Huns can be regarded as pioneers of the grassland culture of Chinese northern nomads.

* Folk songs

Since the Huns did not have their own set of characters, there are very few written records of their folk songs. Currently, only one folk song -- the famous "Song of Qilian Mountain" -- has been handed down.

Lyrics:

"Losing my Yanzhi Mountain,
Our women turn pale.
Losing my Qilian Mountain,
The livestock could not live."

In the second year of Yuanshou (221BC) during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220), General Huo Qubing defeated the Huns troops, driving the ethnic group outside the Hexi Corridor. Having lost the luxuriant prairie along Qilian Mountain, the stockbreeding of the Huns suffered a great loss. This above folk song emerged under these circumstances.

* Instrumental music

The musical instruments of the Huns mainly included wind and percussion instruments, such as the hu jia (a reed pipe used by the northern tribes in ancient China), jiao (a bugle used in the army) and the drum.

Hu jia was a kind of reed pipe made of reed or wood. Blown vertically, the three-holed instrument produced a gloomy, sad timbre deeply loved by the Huns. With the many cultural and economic exchanges between the Han and the Huns, the hu jia was also introduced to the Central Plains.

"The 18 Songs of a Nomad Flute", composed by Cai Wenji of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), was based on "Miss Wenji," composed by the Huns. Cai, who was fond of music, was captured by the Tatars during war, and was later redeemed by Cao Cao, a general of the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). She expressed her sadness for being torn away from her family in the song, which has been famous for thousands of years.

The Huns were nomads and lived on horseback all year round, creating a kind of wind-percussion music played on horseback. The music was played during wars, hunting and ceremonies, and it mainly involved musical instruments like the hu xiao (an instrument played by Tatars), jiao , the drum, and so on. During the Qin and Han dynasties (221BC-AD220), this unique musical genre was introduced to the Central Plains, and merged with the folk music of the Han nationality to form a performing style called "blowing vertically" and "drum blowing," which was prevalent in the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-AD24).

Music of the Xianbei ethnic group

As an ethnic group belonging to the Turki Austronesian of Altai Phylum, the Xianbei (a predecessor of the Uygur ethnic minority) originated from the Donghu (Eastern Tatars) tribe and originally lived in the Great Hinggan Mountain Range. The Xianbei people had many folk songs rich in content and style, including pastoral songs, nostalgic songs, narrative songs, war songs, etc, most of which featured strong and fresh styles, and were wild and unrestrained, with a rich flavor of life in the grasslands. After the Northern Wei unified the Mongolian Plateau, Emperor Taiwu moved more than 300,000 Zhangluo Chi-le people (called "Dingling" or "Gaoche" by the Hans) from the north of Outer Mongolia. In the mid-fifth century, the Chi-le people living on Yinshan Mountain mixed with the Xianbei people. The famous "Chi-le's Song" was a pastoral song sung by the Chi-le people during the Northern Qi period (550-577), and has become very famous. The lyrics are as follows:

"The Chi-le River lies,
Where Gloomy Mountains rise.
The sky is like a dome,
That holds the steppe, our home.
Blue, blue appears in the skies;
Vast, vast the grassland lies.
Winds blow, grass bows and we see the cattle roam."

The royal music of the Xianbei people also left behind quite a number of masterpieces. "Zhenren Daige", also called "Northern Song", is a royal song in the Xianbei language. In the palace of the Northern Wei Period (386-534), people sang this song each morning and evening, accompanied by traditional stringed and woodwind instruments.

Music of the Khitans

Shaman Dance

Since the ancient Khitan ethnic group believed in polytheism (Shamanism), Shaman songs enjoyed great popularity. Whether among ordinary people or at sacrificial ceremonies in the palace, songs and dances were all performed by the Shamans. In the book Sui Shu (History of the Sui Dynasty ), there is a Shaman song about speeches given during ancestral sacrifices and praying for a good hunt and bumper harvest. At present, the song is the only known complete Shaman song left behind by this ancient northern group.

Lyrics:

"On a winter day,
Have meals until sunrise;
When I go hunting,
May I get a good prey."

In the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), fan qu (a song genre) of the Khitan group and other northern tribes was introduced to the Central Plains and became popular among the Hans. Many archons of the Khitan society were fond of music and able to sing and dance; they could even compose songs themselves.

Music of the western regions

During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarian Peoples (300-430), ethnic groups like the Huns, Xianbei, Jie, Di and Qiang took advantage of the civil strife to enter the Central Plains where they built regional regimes of ethnic minorities, ushering in a new stage of cultural amalgamation among different ethnic groups and tight economic and cultural exchanges. Many songs and dances of the northern and northwestern nomads were also introduced to the Central Plains and were greatly loved by the Han people.

Qiuci music

Pipa

Qiuci was an important center for Central Asian trade and the Indo-European culture. Trade routes running north to the Junggar Basin and south to Hotan across the Taklamakan intersected with the Silk Road at Qiuci (Kucha).

Paixiao

Since the people of the ancient Qiuci State all excelled in singing and dancing, the art of song and dance in the state became very developed. Since Qiuci was located in the middle section of the ancient Silk Road, music from ancient India, Daqin and other European and Asian countries was also prevalent here. In addition, dances accompanied by music originated in Sule, and other states of the western region were also introduced to the Central Plains via Qiuci, making Qiuci a real hub of culture and arts in the region.

In AD384, Lu Guang, a pre-Qin general, stormed the Qiuci State and confiscated numerous books on dances and valuable treasures. Later on, Qiuci music became popular in China.

In the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, Qiuci music was played among the common people, as well as in the courts. Their musical instruments (lutes, the pipa and paixiao pipes) and notation were being adopted. Today, the city is still influential in the arts and culture of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and its surrounding areas.

Naxi ancient music

The Naxi people are fond of song and dance. Featuring flutes, reed pipes and wind and stringed instruments, Naxi ancient music is a kind of classical music that combines sacred tunes from Taoist and Confucian ceremonies with literary lyrics and poetry.

Naxi ancient music, which is popular in the Lijiang area of Southeast China's Yunnan Province, is believed to have its roots in Xi'an ancient music. It can be performed in two ways - sitting or walking. Seated performances are a kind of chamber music that involve more than 20 musical instruments, including wind instruments, such as the di zi, sheng (a kind of reed pipe wind instrument), guan zi , and percussion instruments, such as the zuo gu ("sitting drum"), war drum, du gu ("single drum"), big and small cymbals, big gongs, a slit drum, etc.

Today, Naxi ancient music is reputed as the "living fossil of music".