Cham

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Cham

Applicant: Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province

Item No.: 551

Project No.: i-64

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province

Protection unit: Shuangbai County Cultural Center

About Cham:

Applicant: Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province

Cham is a folk Creation Epic of Yi people, which is popular in Damaidi town and Anlongbao township of Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province, and has a long history. Cham means "big" and "origin" in Yi language, which is generally translated as "the origin of all things". Cham describes the history of the origin and development of human beings and all things in the way of myth and legend. Bimo (Yi priest), who is familiar with Yi language, records it on the paper in Yi language for inheritance. Its structure is complex and full of myth color. Cham is basically a mythical epic, but it contains a simple materialist view of nature and a simple historical evolution factor behind the myths and legends.

According to the records of Bimo Scripture of Yi nationality, the earliest Cham had more than 120 "Chas", which were divided into upper and lower parts. The upper part includes the creation of heaven and earth, flooding, the origin of human beings, the origin of all things, etc.; the lower part includes astronomy and geography, divination and calendar, poetry and literature, etc., which is a veritable Encyclopedia of the Yi people, called "genpu" by the Yi people. Cham described the three stages of human development, and put forward the simple view of monkey changing into human, which is of great value in the study of the social development history and the formation history of the Yi nationality.

With the process of modernization, fewer and fewer people are proficient in Yi language. The inheritance of Cham is in crisis, so the protection work is urgent.