Meige

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Meige

Applicant: Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Project No.: 550

Project No.: i-63

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture

About Meige:

Applicant: Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Yao'an oral Yi Meige originated in Guantun Township, Yao'an County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, with a long history and a wide range of mass characteristics. Meige is named after a kind of melody in Yi language, because most of Yi folk songs are sung with "Meige tune", which is generally called "Meige tune". In the process of long-term word-of-mouth transmission, an influential historical narrative poem of Yi nationality has been formed, which has been spread in Yao'an County for thousands of years.

At present, there are more than 5770 lines of Yi's Creation Epic, which is divided into four parts: "creation", "creation", "marriage and love songs" and "funeral". Meige has four types: old Meige, middle-aged Meige, young Meige and baby Meige. The old Meige, also known as "chimeige", mainly describes the creation of heaven and earth, the creation of a new career, and also reflects the work and life of the Yi people; the middle-aged Meige describes the difficulties of production and life of young men and women after they get married, and the melody is more sad; the young Meige, also known as "shanmeige", reflects the pure love of the young men and women of the Yi nationality, which belongs to the nature of love folk song, and can be expressed in the singing Wawameige is a "children's song" of Yi nationality, commonly known as "wawaqiang", which is sung by groups of Yi teenagers and children. Meige outlines the development history of the ancient Yi people, the labor and social life of the ancestors of the Yi people, and shows the customs of love, marriage, funeral and cherishing relatives of the ancient Yi people, which has important folklore and literature research value.

Due to the impact of modernization, the number of inheritors of Yi Meige is decreasing year by year, which is in urgent need of protection.