The battle of Qiang and GE

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: war between Qiang and GE

Applicant: Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province

Project No.: 1066

Project No.: i-122

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province

Protected by: Wenchuan Cultural Center

Brief introduction to the war of Qiang and GE

Applicant: Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province

Qiang is one of the oldest nationalities in China. The battle of Qiang Ge is a heroic epic of Qiang nationality. The epic describes the history of the war between a group of Qiang ancestors who moved southward from the Northwest Plateau and the "Ga" people (goji people) who lived in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, and finally won the victory and settled here. The epic reflects the war between primitive tribes. The battle of qiangge is more than 600 lines long, which is composed of seven parts: "preface song", "the source of sheep skin drum", "the source of Daxueshan", "the meeting of qiangge", "looking for Shenniu", "the battle of qiangge" and "rebuilding homeland".

In describing historical events and war scenes, the epic also describes the folk beliefs of the Qiang people, such as how the ancient Qiang people got the help of the gods in the war, such as Baishi as the shelter of the ancient Qiang people and the winning weapon in the war against the enemy. The great war of the Qiang nationality has beautiful diction and sonorous rhyme, which contains a lot of ancient history, culture, folk customs and other information, and has high literary value and multi-disciplinary research value.

The battle of Qiang Ge is one of the classics sung by the Shibi of Qiang people when they sacrifice the mountain to fulfill their vows. Shibi is the leader of the sacrificial activities of the Qiang people and the highest inheritor of the Qiang culture. At present, there are few old "Shibi" who are still alive and have the ability of inheritance. The representative inheritors are Wang Zhisheng and Yu Shirong.

The battle of Qiang Ge is usually sung in the ancient Qiang language. Because it is difficult to remember the length of the poem, it brings great difficulties to its inheritance and makes it face the danger of decline and even extinction. The state and relevant cultural departments at all levels recorded, videotaped and recorded the war of Qiang Ge. After the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake, the Ministry of culture authorized the establishment of the "Qiang culture ecological protection experimental area", established the study center, improved the protection mechanism, and ensured the cultural heritage.