Manhan folk songs (漫瀚调; “folk songs in desert areas” in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

and

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

are its two principal features. Its melody primarily follows ''boginoduu'' (short-tune Mongolian song of Ordos). In lyrics, it largely relies on

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

, also employing Mongolian Well-known tunes include “Wang’ai

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”, “Planting a Willow”, “

Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

brings us Happiness”. ''Manhan'' employs a

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...

. The intervals of octave or even over octave are frequently used.

History

The word ''Manhan'' originates from Mongolian, meaning ''touradon'' (sand beaches or desert), a landscape typical of Zhunger Banner (

Ordos Ordos may refer to: Inner Mongolia *Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China ** Ordos Ejin Horo Airport * Ordos Loop of the Yellow River, a region of China **Ordos Plateau or "the Ordos", land enclosed by Ordos Loop *Ordos Desert, in Inner Mongolia *Ordos ...

), which is also the birthplace of the Manhan Folk Song. In 1996, Zhunger Banner was named the “Hometown of Manhan Folk Song of China” by the Ministry of Culture of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In 2008, Manhan folk song was listed as an

Intangible Cultural Heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...

. The Ordos were predominantly Mongols. The 19th century, while

Jiaqing The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...

and Daoguang of

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

were emperors, witnessed the migration of

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

into the Zhunger area where Mongolians gather, following an

imperial edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu Proc ...

that more people should inhabit that land. The population and economy (agriculture and animal husbandry) supplied material for folk arts and thus gave birth to Manhan Folk Song. Under the

, various Chinese novels were translated into Mongolian Traditionally, Ordos territory was divided into seven banners. The Manhan Folk Song is peculiar to Zhunger Banner for two major reasons. Many songs are named after places and persons there, such as “Shuangshanliang Song”, “Heyanliang Song”, “Heidaigou Song”, “Jvhetan Song”, and “Deshengxi Song”. For example, “The Coquettish Woman”, “A Playboy to Recruit Soldiers” are famous songs of the second kind. Manhan Folk Song singing styles include solo, love duet and unison. The love duet is the most popular. Usually the woman raises a question and the man answers, or vice versa. Lyrics can be improvised and often tell a story about daily life. When a man and a woman sing in duet with co-tune cavity, the man often employs

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

. The songs are very popular in Zhunger Banner (Ordos). Dalate Banner (county) in

and Tumote Banners (

Huhhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrative, economic and cultural center.''The N ...

Walther Heissig, Mongolische Literatur, in Michael Weiers (editor), Die Mongolen, Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte und Kultur, Darmstadt 1986, p. 70-85 and

Baotou Baotou (; mn, Buɣutu qota, Бугат хот) is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is h ...

) of

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

References

{{Reflist Chinese folk songs Mongolian music