The story of darkness

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dark Legend

Applicant: Shennongjia forest region, Hubei Province

Project No.: 1059

Project No.: i-115

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Shennongjia forest region, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Shennongjia forest Mass Art Museum

Introduction to dark biography:

Applicant: Shennongjia forest region, Hubei Province

The story of darkness is a long narrative poem of myth and history, which is mainly spread in Shennongjia forest region, Fangxian County, Baokang and Wushan of Sichuan Province. It is handed down from generation to generation in the form of oral and written copy. As "song of filial piety", "song of mourning drum" and "song of weeding grass, gongs and drums", they are sung by many singers on different occasions to remember the merits of their ancestors and are deeply loved by the people. Its content centers on a series of myths and legends, such as Pangu's creation and ending of chaos and darkness, and many cultural heroes' hard creation in the primitive flood and famine era, including "congenital", "acquired", "soaking in heaven" and "governing the world". It is a rare folk literature work with broad space-time background, grand narrative structure, simple and magical content, which powerfully stimulates people's sense of identity with Chinese history and culture.

There is no research on the origin of darkness. The earliest recorded is baokangzhi of Ming Dynasty. In 1983, the cadres of Shennongjia cultural center first found the transcripts of Tongzhi's seventh year and Guangxu's fourteenth year in Shennongjia forest region. Because of the intervention of scholars, it is known by the majority of academic circles. Then in 1986, a handwritten copy of the story of darkness was found at the home of Qu Dingchao, a folk artist in dahengxi, Maqiao, Baokang County. Since then, many kinds of manuscripts have been found. There is still the custom of singing "the story of darkness" in the local funeral.

Since modern times, the academic circles have always believed that there is no long narrative poem in the traditional Chinese culture with the Han nationality as the main body. The discovery of dark biography and a large number of folk narrative poems is of great significance to re understand the history of Chinese culture and literature.

At present, the representative inheritors are: Chen Qisong, Zhou Zhengxi, Shi Guangyu (Shennongjia forest region), Wan Zude (Baokang County), etc. However, there are few old singers who can sing all the stories of darkness, and the number of old singers who can sing all the stories of darkness is decreasing year by year. Many ancient manuscripts are deeply hidden in the hands of folk artists and need to be collected, collected and studied.