There are many classifications of China folk songs. According to genre classification, it can be roughly divided into three categories: chant (including carrying chant, boatman chant, workshop chant, etc.), folk songs (including general folk songs, grazing folk songs, Tianyang folk songs, etc.) and minor songs (including ballads, seasonal tunes, customs and ritual songs, dance songs, etc.). In some scholars' works, folk songs are divided into chant, folk songs, pastoral songs, field yangko songs, boat songs, nursery rhymes, minor songs, custom ceremony songs and so on. Genre classification is helpful to understand and study the relationship between folk songs and people's lives, the social functions of folk songs, and the methods and characteristics of music expression.

Classification by ethnic and regional styles and colors. There are 56 ethnic groups in China. Due to the differences in historical traditions, language features and living customs, the styles and colors of folk songs of various ethnic groups are far apart. Some ethnic groups with a large number and a wide living area, such as Han, Mongolian, Tibetan, Zhuang and Uygur, can also be divided into several color areas according to the musical characteristics of folk songs in different regions. For example, Han folk songs can be roughly divided into eight color areas: Northwest, North China, Northeast, Southwest, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, Hunan, Hubei and Jianghuai, among which the first three areas belong to the north, the fourth to the sixth belong to the south, and the seventh and eighth belong to the transitional areas between north and south. There are also four regions, namely, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan. There are different points, each with its own basis.

The classification of style and color is helpful to understand and study the style and color of folk songs and the relationship between music and folk customs. Classification according to subject matter content is helpful to understand and study the relationship between content and form of folk songs. In addition, there are also special classifications based on historical development periods or for the needs of a special study.

--------The distribution of China folk songs:

According to different national cultural backgrounds and different styles and colors of folk songs, China folk songs can be divided into six different styles and colors.

1.Northern Grassland Cultural Folk Song Area;

2. Xinjiang folk song area influenced by Islamic culture in the west;

3. Tibetan folk song areas influenced by Buddhist culture in the west;

4. Multi-ethnic ancient primitive culture folk song area in southwest plateau;

5. Hunting culture folk song area influenced by Shamanism in Northeast China;

6. Northwest Plateau multi-ethnic, semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral cultural folk song area;

7. Han folk song areas with ancient traditional culture in the Central Plains and the eastern coast.

As for the classification of folk songs in each folk song area. Due to different nationalities, each has its own traditional division method, so it is impossible to unify, and only differences can be reserved.

1.Northern Grassland Cultural Folk Song Area

This folk song area is mainly located in the present Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, represented by Mongolian folk songs. Mongolians have always been called "music nation" and "poetry nation". Folk songs can be divided into two categories: "long tune" and "short tune". The "long tune" folk songs are mainly popular in eastern pastoral areas and areas north of Yinshan Mountain. They are characterized by short words and long cavity, rich decoration, loud and melodious tone and free rhythm, reflecting the momentum of the vast grassland and the broad mind of herders. Pastoral songs, homesickness songs, hymns, etc. are mostly long tunes. Well-known tracks include "Vast Grassland" and "Pastoral". "Short tune" is mainly popular in western and southern semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas, which is characterized by short structure and regular rhythm. Many narrative songs, love songs and wedding songs belong to "short tune". Famous short-tune folk songs include Senjidema and Little Huang Ma. The * * * nature of grassland cultural folk songs is to show the simple, bright, enthusiastic and uninhibited feelings and character of grassland herders. In addition, there is a kind of "Mongolian-Chinese tune" in Simon, which is the product of mutual absorption and exchange between Mongolian and Chinese music cultures. "Mountain climbing tune" popular in Hetao area is also a favorite song of Mongolian and Han nationalities.

2. Xinjiang folk song areas influenced by Islamic culture in the west.

Located in Xinjiang, this folk song area is represented by Uygur and Kazakh folk songs. It has been influenced by Islamic traditional culture in Central Asia and has certain connections with Arabic music culture. Uyghur people are good at singing and dancing, and their singing and dancing art is famous in the world as "Twelve Muqams". Folk songs can be divided into four categories: love songs, labor songs, historical songs and life customs songs. In terms of tone, Uygur folk songs include China music, Arabic music and European music systems, which is the most prominent source of diversified tones of China folk songs. Many folk songs are combined with dance and have a lively and interesting style. Famous folk songs at home and abroad include Allaben Han, Half Moon Climbing Up, Dabancheng, Send me a Rose, etc. Kazakhs mainly live in northern Xinjiang and engage in animal husbandry. Folk songs can be divided into three categories: (l) folk songs with fixed lyrics (including pastoral songs, hunting songs, love songs, religious songs, etc.); (2) Folk songs with impromptu lyrics (including folk songs, fishing songs, riddle songs, etc.); (3) Custom songs (including wedding songs, wedding crying songs, wedding sending songs, etc.). Among them, the number of love songs is the largest, and most of them show the pain and blessing of lovers' parting. There are two systems of Kazakh folk songs: China music and European music. China's music system is dominated by Gong and Yu modes. Famous all over the country are "Maira" and "Wait for me till dawn".

3. Tibetan folk song areas influenced by Buddhist culture in the west.

This folk song area includes Xizang Autonomous Region, Qinghai and some Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan. Folk songs include five categories: folk songs (pastoral songs), labor songs, love songs, phoenix folk songs and chanting songs. Folk song singing activities are mostly related to Buddhist festivals, and many folk songs are combined with dance, such as "Nangma", "Dui Xie", "Guo Xie" and "Guo Zhuang". Music belongs to China's music system, and folk songs are generally characterized by enthusiasm, cheerfulness, sincerity, moving, plateau characteristics and strong rhythm. Famous folk songs include "On the Golden Mountain in Beijing" and so on. "On the Golden Mountain in Beijing" was originally an arrow song (that is, a hunting song), which first spread in the southeastern forest region of Tibet. Now it has become a new folk song spread all over the country.

4. Southwest Plateau multi-ethnic ancient primitive culture folk song area

This folk song area includes the minority areas in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. There are more than twenty different nationalities living here. Folk songs in this area have different levels of ancient cultural characteristics and special social functions. Most of the folk songs are a combination of "poetry, song and dance" with complex and diverse contents, and there are folk songs in different historical stages. Because many ethnic groups have no written language, folk songs have become an important means for them to record history, spread knowledge and engage in social activities, and have become an indispensable part of their daily lives. All these reflect a special and multi-level cultural phenomenon. The representative folk songs in this area are multi-voice folk songs. Most ethnic groups have two parts and three folk songs. Folk songs are classified into "big songs" and "small songs". Big songs are the most famous among Dong, Buyi and Zhuang nationalities. There are three kinds of big songs: male, female and children's. Generally, male big songs have strong rhythm and lively tunes. Girls' big songs have free rhythm and delicate and soft melody. Besides two parts, there are also single-part folk songs. The content is mainly about love. Generally, young men and women sing softly indoors. In addition, there are ancient songs, with the Miao ancient songs having the longest history. The content describes the formation of heaven and earth and the origin of mankind. The cause of traveling, etc. The melody is full of chanting, and the singers are mostly old people. Dong folk songs were famous all over the country in the 1950s, and other folk songs such as Osmanthus fragrans Open to Noble People, A Xi Dance on the Moon, etc. are also representative tracks.

5. Folk song areas of hunting culture influenced by Shamanism in the northeast.

This folk song area mainly includes the northeast Daxing 'anling and Xiaoxing 'anling areas, with Oroqen folk songs as the representatives (including Ewenki, Hezhe, Daur and Manchu). The Oroqen people still kept many traces of primitive society before 1949. This is a nation that loves singing and dancing. In the past, it made a living by hunting. Whenever it came back from hunting, or national festivals, it was necessary to have a song and dance carnival. Their folk songs can be divided into three categories: (l) folk songs, (2) dance songs and (3) shaman tunes. Folk songs are divided into "long tune" and "short tune", and the "long tune" is high and vigorous, with free beat; The "short tune" has a smooth tune and regular rhythm. Most of the songs and dances are in the form of a crowd. Shaman tune is a song sung for inviting gods, jumping, offering sacrifices to ancestors and funerals. The tune is chanting, mostly for bringing peace. Oroqen folk songs are pentatonic. Palace mode and feather mode are the majority. Their favorite folk songs are Erhulan? Dehulan is a song praising nature. In addition, "Oroqen Singing" is also famous all over the country.

6. Northwest Plateau multi-ethnic, semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral cultural folk song area

This folk song area includes the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, and there are areas where Han, Hui, Tu, Salar, Baoan, Dongxiang, Tibet, Yugu and other ethnic groups live together. Since ancient times, it belongs to the category of semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral culture. Historically, it used to be the only place where the "Silk Road" passed, and the cultural exchange between the East and the West was earlier. Due to the long-term multi-ethnic communication and blending, a kind of song that was shared by eight ethnic groups-"Flower" was produced. Folk songs in this area can be divided into "family songs" and "wild songs". "Family songs" include all kinds of wine songs, banquet songs, small words, yangko and so on. "Wild songs" include all kinds of folk songs and pastoral songs, including "flowers". Wild songs can only be sung outdoors. "Hua 'er" is a representative kind of song, with a long and sonorous tune, a deep and tactful style, a rough and simple temperament. No matter which ethnic group sings in Chinese, each ethnic group has its own words, and the famous repertoire at home and abroad is "Going Up to the Mountain and Looking at Pingchuan".

7. Han folk song areas with ancient traditional culture in the Central Plains and the eastern coast.

The Han folk song area is the largest of the six areas, from the cold north to the subtropical south, from the northwest plateau and southwest plateau to the eastern coastal plain, with diverse geographical conditions, customs, life and production methods. Although the language belongs to Chinese, there are different dialects in different places. There are great differences between east, west, south and north, and the style and characteristics of folk songs also show various characteristics. On the other hand, there are more than 10 million Han people in the northern grassland folk song area, the northwest semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral folk song area and the southwest plateau multi-ethnic folk song area. Therefore, the phenomenon of partial overlap of folk song areas also exists. Based on the above situation, the Han folk song area can be divided into ten branches and one special zone.

(l) Folk songs in the Northeast Metropolitan Plain;

(2) the northwest plateau folk song branch;

(3) the branch of Jianghuai folk songs;

(4) Folk songs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Plain;

(5) Folk songs in Fujian and Taiwan;

(6) the branch of Cantonese folk songs;

(7) The branch of folk songs in Jianghan Plain;

(8) Xiang folk song branch;

(9) Jiangxi folk song branch;

(10) Southwest Plateau Folk Songs Branch,

(1 1) Hakka Folk Song Special Zone.

There are many kinds of Han folk songs, but their different social functions can be divided into ten categories: labor songs, folk songs, minor songs, Tian Ge, fishing songs, tea songs, yangko (including lantern songs), folk songs, nursery rhymes and nursery rhymes.

(1) Northeast Plain Folk Song Branch

This area includes the lower reaches of the Yellow River, such as Shandong, Hebei, northeastern Henan, northern Jiangsu, and Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, and is basically a coastal plain. Since ancient times, the lower reaches of the Yellow River belong to areas with developed culture. According to the slight differences in style, the area can be divided into two communities, Shandong, Hebei and parts of Hebei and northern Jiangsu as the first community; Liao, Ji and Hei are the second communities. The second residential area is actually the immigrant area of the first residential area. Therefore, folk songs belong to similar styles. The eastern and northern dialects are used in the whole region. Folk songs here are mainly in minor, followed by yangko and chant, and there are few folk songs. Representative folk songs include Chinese Cabbage, Fan Painting, Yimeng Mountain Minor, Little Theatre Watching and so on.

(2) Northwest Plateau Folk Songs Branch

The area includes Shanxi, Shaanxi Dadu, northwest Henan, Hetao area in Inner Mongolia and Han nationality areas in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia. The east is divided from the northeast folk songs by Taihang Mountain, and the north and south are south of Yinshan Mountain and north of Qinling Mountain, which belong to the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. In the past, the traffic was inconvenient, and folk music was rarely communicated with other places, using the northern dialect of Northwest Capital. Folk songs are the most prominent, including "Journey to Heaven", "Folk Songs", "Climbing Mountain Tune" and "Flowers". Followed by yangko and minor. The national famous tracks include Walking to the West, Sacrificing Sacrifice Spirit, Lanhuahua, Pushing Fried Noodles, Five Brothers Pasturing Sheep, Planing Potato, Embroidered Gold Tablet, etc.

(3) The branch of Jianghuai folk songs

This area includes northern Jiangsu, most of Anhui, southeastern Henan and Dabie Mountain and Jianghan Folk Song Area in the west. The area is located between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and its music culture combines the South and North factors, with transitional characteristics. Use northern dialect. Tian Ge and minor are the most prominent folk songs, followed by yangko and folk songs. Famous tracks include Fengyang Flower Drum, Sister Wang's Fair, Beating Wheat Songs, Pigen Luchaihua and so on.

(4) Folk songs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Plain

The area, which includes Southern Jiangsu, Shanghai and most of Zhejiang, is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and is the land of Wu and Yue in ancient times. The culture is relatively developed and the people's lives are relatively rich. It has always been known as the land of plenty in the south of the Yangtze River. The dialect used is Wu dialect. Folk songs are mainly in minor, and the famous tracks are Purple Bamboo Tune, No Tin Scenery, Jasmine Flower, Crying July 7th, Against Birds and so on.

(5) Folk songs in Fujian and Taiwan

This area includes most of Fujian, most of Taiwan Province and Chaoshan area in Guangdong. Fujian and Taiwan Province have a cultural relationship since ancient times. The local Han people in Taiwan Province always use Minnan dialect. In addition, there are some local operas and rap music in the two places. Folk songs are prominent in folk songs, poems about fields and minor tunes, and the famous tracks include Picking Tea and Butterflies, Tea Boys' Songs, Tianwuwu and so on.

(6) Guangdong folk songs branch

This area includes Guangdong Dadu in the Pearl River Basin, the southeast of Guangyou, and parts of Hainan, and is adjacent to Jiangxi Folk Song Area with Nanling as the boundary in the north. It is located in the subtropical zone, and the Pearl River runs through the east and west. Cultural exchanges with overseas countries are earlier, and Cantonese dialect is used. In the past, fishermen became an important social stratum in this area. Fishery songs-salty water songs are the most prominent folk songs. Famous tracks include Falling into the Water, Spring Cattle Tune, Li Li Mei and so on.

(7) Folk songs in Jianghan Plain

This area includes Hubei, southwestern Henan and parts of northern Hunan, and is the center of ancient Chu culture. Use southwest dialect. Ancient culture is relatively developed, and folk art has a long history. So far, it still retains antique local characteristics in many aspects. Tian Ge is the most prominent folk song, followed by lantern songs, minor songs, folk songs and folk songs. Well-known tracks include "Sister Huang" and "Honghu Fishing Song".

(8) Xiang folk songs branch

This area includes Hunan and several counties in the northeast corner of Guangxi. Located in the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, it is also the ancient Chu land. People are advocating Chu customs and attacking Chu customs, which is inextricably linked with Jianghan folk song area, but the dialects used are different, and Hunan dialect is commonly used in this area. The most representative folk songs are folk songs and Tian Ge. Well-known tracks include "Masang Village's Children Playing Lampstand", "Lotus Pond by Pond" and "Going to Sichuan".

(9) Branch of Jiangxi Folk Songs

The area takes the central, northern and eastern parts of Jiangxi as the basic scope and uses Gan dialect. Located between Wu and Chu in ancient times, Wu Chu culture had a certain influence on them, and it has the nature of a transitional zone for cultural exchanges between the east and the west of the Yangtze River basin, with strong blending of folk songs. Tea songs are the most distinctive, followed by minor and lantern songs. The "drum song" in Tian Ge is also outstanding. Well-known tracks include azaleas blooming, picking tea seeds, and sending Lang as the Red Army.

(10) Southwest Plateau Folk Songs Branch

The area includes Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, southern Shaanxi and parts of northwest Guangxi. The north is bounded by Qinling Mountains, and southwest dialect is commonly used. The representative folk songs are folk songs, followed by lantern songs. In addition, Chuanjiang boatman's chant is also very distinctive. Well-known tracks include "Running in a Small River", "Catch the Horse Tune", "When will the Sophora flowers bloom" and "I live in Guiyang, Guizhou".

(1 1) Hakka Folk Songs Special Zone

Hakkas are widely distributed, with a population of more than 80 million in China. The special zones in China and Europe mainly include the border areas of northeast Guangdong, southwest Fujian and southeast Jiangxi. Hakka people are concentrated here. Hakka people are immigrants from the Central Plains in the north due to war in ancient times, and they retain the ancient legacy and use Hakka dialects. Folk songs are mainly folk songs, and the famous tracks are "Red Lantern Song" and "Wind Blowing Bamboo Leaves".

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The Development Track of China Folk Songs;

Because folk songs are the songs of working people, working people were looked down upon in feudal society and semi-feudal and semi-colonial old China, and their songs suffered the same fate. Even in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it was repeatedly banned by the emperor. There are few written records about its history. From the unearthed cultural relics, there are more ancient musical instruments, but less singing activities. The pottery basin with singing and dancing images unearthed in Datong County, Qinghai Province is really precious. It shows the totem worship singing and dancing activities in matriarchal society 6,000 years ago. In primitive times, song and dance were combined. To this day, the ancient tradition of singing and dancing is still maintained in many ethnic minority areas. In the book Huainanzi recorded in ancient times, it was mentioned that the ancients sang labor trumpets when lifting wood, which shows that early folk songs were closely related to labor. From the brothers' views, such as the song and dance images on Yinshan rock paintings, the Song of Panwang by Yao, the Ancient Song by Miao and Shaman Tune by Manchu, we can see that primitive folk songs are related to primitive religious activities such as witches.

It is impossible to reproduce the actual sound of ancient folk songs, only its lyrics can be seen from ancient literary works. As for music score, there is no music score, because folk songs have always been sung orally, and even after the notation, working people do not use it. It is only at the end of19th century that folklorists recorded several folk songs with Gongchi notation. A comprehensive and planned collection, arrangement, recording and publication of folk songs can only become a reality in New China. Historically, there have been many different names for folk songs, such as ditty, slang, poem, folk songs, time words and folk songs in Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Book of Songs is the earliest collection of people's lyrics in China. It brings together the folk songs of 15 vassal countries that were popular in the northern Yellow River basin during the 500 years from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (BC 1 1 century-6th century BC). Its distinctive feature is that it uses realistic artistic techniques to truly reflect the social life, class contradictions and various lives of working people at that time. In the uniformity of form and language, it is not difficult to see that it has been selected and processed. In the 4th century BC, another collection of folk songs in the Yangtze River valley, Chu Ci, appeared, which was a collection of lyrics compiled and processed by the great poet Qu Yuan on the basis of ancient witch songs in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Its outstanding feature is that it is full of ancient myths and legends, full of imagination, and it begins to use romantic expressions, and develops the four-character folk song in The Book of Songs into a "Sao" style song with free sentence structure and changeable rhyme, and it has a strong local color. By the time of the Six Dynasties of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-420 AD), most of the folk songs were kept in Yuefu, and the folk songs in Yuefu of Han Dynasty were actually the confluence of folk songs in Huaihe River basin, the lower reaches of Yangtze River and the middle and lower reaches of Yellow River. At this time, there were already story songs, such as Peacock Flying Southeast, Ben Lan Joining the Army, etc., most of which reflected the sufferings brought by the war and the family tragedy under the feudal ethics. This kind of story has been circulated since the beginning of the AD, and it is almost a household name. Not only is it sung in the form of folk songs, but it has also become a famous repertoire of traditional Chinese opera, which shows its profound influence. The outstanding feature of Yuefu folk songs is that not only the words are sorted out, but also the music is processed by Li Yannian, a famous musician in the Han Dynasty at that time, accompanied by silk and bamboo instruments, which is called Xianghe Song.

From the folk songs of The Book of Songs to the folk songs of Han Yuefu, it can be said that China folk songs are in the early ancient times, and their rich content and strong expressive force are quite perfect. It is conceivable that before that, folk songs still had a quite long primitive era. In primitive times, there was no major in music culture. In slave society, slave owners had happy slaves who enjoyed themselves for them, and then they began to be divided. It was really divided into two categories: professional music and folk music. In feudal society, there were people who played and sang for emperors, nobles' sacrifices, ceremonies, banquets and entertainment, especially with notation and professional composers, which gradually formed an obvious literary boundary. In China, there is a distinction between professional and folk music from the Han Dynasty to Zhejiang. After the Han Dynasty, there are few folk songs compiled by official organizations. It's hard to confirm whether the tones of early folk songs still exist today, but the tones of the dragon-rowing boat songs (including "Paddling", "Swimming the River" and "Race Crossing") circulating in Zigui County, Hubei Province in memory of Qu Yuan, as well as the ancient boat songs in the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin (including "Oating" and "Pulling the Fiber") are probably more than a thousand years old! Maybe it's a lasting legacy.

From the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was a period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589 AD), which was a period of great integration of all ethnic groups in China in history. Folk songs were obviously divided into two parts: Southern folk songs (Southern folk songs) and Northern folk songs (Northern folk songs). The distinctive feature of folk songs in this period is the exchange and integration of multi-ethnic music cultures. Regardless of the roughness and boldness of northern folk songs; Or the freshness and liveliness of southern folk songs, are not a single national style. The different styles of this kind of north-south folk songs can still distinguish its far-reaching influence in today's existing north-south folk songs.

The Tang Dynasty (AD 615-967) and the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) were the prosperous periods of China's feudal culture. Especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the song and dance art of frontier nationalities was introduced to the Central Plains in large quantities, which had a great influence on the music of the Central Plains. Obviously, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries played a role in promoting the development of music, and professional music in the Tang Dynasty had a great impact. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, rap and drama in the folk music of the Song Dynasty were formed by Zhejiang. Regarding the folk songs of the Tang Dynasty, we can find some songs in Dunhuang, such as "Wu Geng Yue" and so on. In addition, we can know one or two things from Zhuzhi Song, which was circulated at that time. Zhuzhi Song is a kind of free-singing lyric folk song that rose in Bayu area in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Liu Yuxi and Bai Juyi, famous poets in the Tang Dynasty, all absorbed this folk song factor and wrote Zhuzhi Song created by some literati. Up to now, traces of the musical structure of Zhuzhi Song can be found in Tian Ge in western Hubei and eastern Sichuan. "Quci" was very popular in the Song Dynasty, when it was a new form of singing from the people. The Yuan Dynasty (A.D.1221-1368) was famous for its "Xiao Ling", which is a kind of folk songs. Nowadays, there are still folk songs named after "Ling" in northwest China. The poem of the Yuan Dynasty was rarely passed down to later generations, and the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty regarded folk songs with dissatisfaction and satirical current affairs as a scourge and prohibited them from being sung.

The Ming Dynasty (A.D.1368-1684) and the Qing Dynasty (A.D.1-1911) were the end of feudal society and emerging. At this time, semi-professional artists have been singing folk songs. In the late Qing Dynasty (1848), China entered a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. Anti-feudalism and resistance to foreign aggression have become the characteristics of modern folk songs. During this period, there appeared a collection of folk song lyrics collected and edited by many writers, such as Hakka Folk Songs by Huang Zunxian, Wu Ge by Feng Menglong, Yue Fu by Li Diaoyuan and The Legacy of Snow by Hua Guangsheng. Due to personal preference, most of these folk songs focus on folk lyric folk songs in variety. Many of these folk songs are still sung among the people today. What is more worth mentioning is that Pu Songling, a famous folk writer in the Qing Dynasty, wrote Liaozhai Folk Songs, which selected more than 50 folk songs popular in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Some of them have been sung by folk artists so far that we can hear folk songs that have lasted for 300 to 400 years, which is very precious.

Since the 20th century, after the Revolution of 1911 in191year and the May 4th New Culture Movement in19/year, folk songs have entered a new stage, and anti-imperialist and anti-feudal folk songs have reached a climax. 192 1 after the establishment of the China * * * production party, with the awakening of farmers and herdsmen, folk songs have been revitalized. The remarkable sign of folk songs in this period is that a large number of mainland Xinmin songs spread to the eastern coastal areas, and some folk songs of border brothers also spread to the Central Plains, reflecting the theme of people's revolution and unity against foreign aggression, and the new folk songs are unprecedentedly prosperous. In addition, there are many folk songs such as fighting for freedom of marriage, equality between brave women and opposing drug abuse. Around the May 4th Movement, the Collection of Beiping Folk Songs compiled by Li Jiarui came out, and there was already a record of folk songs. What's more worth mentioning is that the movement of learning from folk music, which rose in Yan 'an after 1942, played an epoch-making significance and opened a new page in the history of modern music.

1949 After the founding of New China, the working people were truly respected, and China folk songs entered a brand-new period. A large number of folk songs reflecting people's new life sprang up, not only with novel themes, but also with a more lively, warm, cheerful and lively music style, full of upward passion and optimistic spirit. Due to the unbalanced social, economic and cultural development of various ethnic groups in the past, many ethnic groups even have no words, folk songs. In contrast, due to the rapid development of traditional Chinese opera and rap, the singing activities of the Han nationality are not as active as those of their brothers, and there are not as many folk songs sung in coastal areas as in inland areas. This is also a remarkable feature of folk songs in the new historical period.