Five Palace Tunes in Haizhou

Five Palace Tunes in Haizhou

Haizhou Five Palace Tunes is a traditional folk music with a long history. It is an important link of Ming and Qing folk songs in Jiangsu Province. It is a precious relic of ancient "Zhugong Tunes". It has a rare empirical value for the study of Chinese folk music and even folk music. The custom of folk singing ditties in Haizhou has a long history. Because it is located at the border of Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, and also the intersection zone of Jianghuai dialect and Northern dialect, the melodies of both north and South in history have taken root here, showing a situation of blending and mixing all kinds of melodies. The five palace tunes of Haizhou are a kind of artistic form which is spread in Lianyungang City and its surrounding areas and is composed of soft flat tunes, overlapping tunes, Oriental tunes, Southern tunes and Boyang tunes.

In 2004, it was listed as the first pilot project of national folk culture protection in Jiangsu Province by Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture. In 2006, the Five Palaces in Haizhou, Jiangsu Province, was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Inheritance significance

In the mid-1920s, after the Longhai Railway extended eastward to Xinpu (now Xinpu District, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province), the waterway traffic in Haizhou was gradually replaced by land transportation, and Banpu gradually lost its position as a transportation hub. At the end of the 1940s, Banpu became increasingly depressed. The government of Houguanyun County moved to Yishan. The traffic congestion and the singleness of cultural life made the Five Palaces tune in Haizhou free from the impact of other artistic forms. Some endangered lost songs were completely preserved, and the singing artists also spread to this day. Nowadays, in Xinpu, Haizhou, Banpu and other places, there are still many players who automatically gather to sing official tunes and signboards.

Due to the long-term folk singing in the form of self-entertainment, lack of professional artists, and few new catalogues, the promotion and development of this kind of music has been greatly limited.

After 1980, due to the change of social environment, music such as the Five Palace Tunes has gradually become endangered. Haizhou Five Palace Tunes is a precious heritage of Ming and Qing folk songs in China. Its excavation and protection will play a positive role in promoting Ming and Qing minor studies.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the Five Palaces of Haizhou were approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.