Pictograms keep folk songs alive in SW China's Yunnan

Sitting in a pavilion, four women, clad in traditional costumes of the Zhuang ethnic group, began to sing a song. Despite their language being unfamiliar to outsiders, listeners found themselves captivated by the soft and romantic melody.

The women performed songs from an old songbook, the "Poya Songbook," named after Poya village in Boai town, Funing county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The "Poya Songbook," containing 81 love songs, was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item of China in 2011.

An aerial photo shows Poya village. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

"Poya," in Zhuang dialect, translates to a place full of blooming flowers. The village is home to 312 residents, with 299 of them being of the Zhuang ethnic group.

Local villagers often reference unique pictograms on pieces of cloth to help them remember the folk songs. Nong Fengmei, a 58-year-old resident, owns a cloth bearing 81 pictograms, each representing a love song.

Nong Fengmei shows the "Poya Songbook" passed down from her great-grandmother. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

The cloth has been with her family for generations. "My great-grandmother passed it on to my grandmother, who then handed it on to me," Nong explained. As a child, her grandmother used the pictograms to help her remember the songs. "I can sing an entire song just by looking at the pictogram," she said.

Nong Fengmei (first from left) sings songs with villagers. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

In 2006, Funing county conducted a cultural resources survey of the Zhuang ethnic group. Nong showed the cloth to experts who confirmed that the 81 pictograms could convey meanings, much like words. They labeled the discovery "the Poya Songbook of the Zhuang Ethnic Group in Funing" and subsequently edited and published the "Poyang Songbook."

To teach Poya love songs to more people, the local government built a learning center in the village. In December 2012, Nong was appointed an inheritor of Poya love songs.

Apart from being an expert in Poya love songs, Nong also has a wealth of knowledge about other Zhuang ethnic group folk music. She has participated in art performances promoting Poya love songs at the town, county, prefecture, provincial and national levels.

The Poya choir made history in July 2016 by becoming the first choir from an ethnic group in Yunnan to compete internationally. They participated in the 9th World Choir Games in the Russian city of Sochi and triumphed in the "singing without accompaniment" category.

Nong Fengmei shows a line in the "Poya Songbook." (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Nong has guided local women in embroidering pictograms onto homespun cloth seeking to integrate the Zhuang ethnic group's folk songs with their traditional brocade. Today, more than 20 villagers in Poya can understand and sing the songs these pictograms represent.