CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION January 24-28, 2020 | 7 PEOPLE Fighting extinction with folk songs

Singer strives to keep ethnic She culture alive by promoting traditional tunes

By XU WEI and HU MEIDONG in Ningde, Fujian There would be no For Lei Meifeng, singing is not merely about singing. She culture without For the past three decades, it has its folk songs. been about saving her ethnic group’s culture from the brink of The language would extinction. be gone as well. The 49­year­old Lei has devoted most of her life to studying and The people would promoting the ethnic songs of the lose their interest She people, an ethnic group scat­ tered mostly in Fujian, Zhejiang and eventually forget and Guangdong provinces in Chi­ who they are.” na. “There would be no She culture Lei Meifeng, an inheritor of She songs, without its folk songs. The lan­ a national intangible guage would be gone as well. The cultural heritage people would lose their interest and eventually forget who they are,” she said. opment of the mobile internet and With a population of over popularization of instant messag­ 700,000, according to the most ing and video­sharing social net­ recent census, the She people have working services has offered She their own language, but the fact songs a much­needed boost. that the language has no written Lei said many She people con­ form has made it difficult to pass duct singing contests in WeChat down. groups, inspiring the vigor of Lei, a native of Houdun village many young people. in Ningde city of Fujian province, One of her students, 21­year­old explained that the songs are a Lei Qingmei, has taken to lives­ quintessential part of the social treaming platforms to share her life for the She people. music and introduce users to the “We people use the songs to ethnic group’s clothing, food and greet strangers, to know each oth­ She people dance in their ethnic clothes to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival last year in Jingning She autonomous county in Lishui decorations. er and to challenge each other,” Lei city, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, on Feb 2. LI SUREN / XINHUA Lei expressed her excitement said. “Someone who loses a duel over how young She people are must go back to perfect his or her now showing interest in their folk skills and make another challenge ethnic group in Fujian on a num­ that they would come,” she Other than school duties, she In Guoyang village of Ningde, songs. the next year, or he or she will be ber of stages and was recognized recalled. also offers three teaching sessions Zhong Shihe, 70, has been teach­ “What excites me is many young forever subject to ridicule.” as an inheritor of She songs, a Most people were discouraged per week at a She culture museum ing his 11­year­old granddaughter children are now joining our ranks She added that many young She national intangible cultural heri­ by their inability to speak the lan­ in Ningde, with some students of the language and songs. to learn, and new technology has people in the past would gather tage, in 2009. guage, she said. Han nationality also attending. “Her father said the songs are no helped us to spread our songs during the musical meetings of the Despite her fame and recogni­ However, with persistent effort, “I do not mind which nationality longer of any importance, but I much farther,” she said. ethnic group and sing outdoors tion from authorities, Lei said Lei was able to introduce her they are from. As long as they think they are the hereditary trea­ However, she still lamented the the whole night, a tradition that what has always truly motivated songs to the classes of several pri­ show their motivation and inter­ sures of our ethnic group. There fact that few would have the has long been gone. her has been to encourage more of mary and high schools for ethnic est, I can teach on and on until comes one kind of emotion from enthusiasm to sing for the whole “To sing the She songs would her peers to regain their songs and groups in Ningde starting from they grasp it,” she said. each song,” he said, adding that night as the elder generations used require speaking the tongue,” she their culture. 2008. She noted that confidence is the learning to sing the songs used to to. said. The She songs are mostly sung “I went to the schools and talked key in the learning process. be a must for each individual in She voiced her fears about how “The young people barely speak in antiphonal styles that express to the headmasters,” she said. “It is like the voice of nature,” the group. many young She people are mak­ their native language now.” emotions at festivals and events “I told them I can teach the stu­ she said, adding that the songs He added that he would bring ing improper changes to the folk Influenced by her mother, Lei such as weddings and funerals and dents at least one lesson for free must be sung in a way to reflect the several friends with him to visit songs with Mandarin to make started learning the folk songs welcoming and entertaining each week. They all agreed that it ancient She people’s hillside living fellow She people in other areas to them more easily intelligible. when she was 8 years old. guests. Songs have also played a would be a meaningful thing for and farming lives. perform duets. “We need to maintain the essen­ She went on to fine­tune her key role in passing down history the She students.” Lei has so far passed on her However, he said that the fact tial part of the language so that skills by working with several sing­ and folk tales from one generation The very first step, she said, is songs to 560 people across the that his granddaughter only spoke they can truly carry it and the cul­ ers of her ethnic group. to the next. introducing the students to their nation, all of whom are young peo­ Mandarin in her school and with ture forward, or they will be lost in Lei performed on stage for the To promote the popularity of her own language. ple. her parents means he is the only a few generations and nobody will first time in 1986 during the folk songs, Lei made painstaking She would encourage them to Meanwhile, an increasing num­ one to teach her the songs. know what the original versions of national games for ethnic groups efforts to offer free lessons to chil­ write down the basic characters of ber of She parents and grandpar­ “Very few young children are the songs were like,” she said. in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang dren in her village. the She language using Chinese ents have realized the importance learning the language now, which Uygur autonomous region. “Nobody was interested. I even characters to help them to memo­ of passing down the tongue to the is worrying to me,” he said. Contact the writers at She has since represented the had to offer each child 10 yuan so rize. younger generation. Despite the problem, the devel­ [email protected] Former French diplomat aids companies’ efforts to foster overseas relationships

By ZHOU JIN culture and philosophy, so it were dealing with, the spirit of col­ his first trip to the Chinese main­ [email protected] seemed obvious that we could work laboration will fade. land took him to Shanghai, Beijing as a link between China and devel­ “As a Tunisian minister told me, and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous That there is a special bond oping countries,” Vairon said. ‘If there’s such a small difference region. between Lionel Vairon and China, To that end, the couple set up a between the price a Chinese com­ He has since visited the country there can be no doubt. company named Cultural Educa­ pany and a French company are more than 50 times and can rightly However, like a fine French wine tion and Communication Consult­ charging, I’d rather work with be regarded as a fully fledged sinol­ that benefits from long cellaring, ing in Luxembourg in 2006, French people’,” Vairon says. ogist. Vairon’s relationship with the through which they have provided “‘Because I know, and I studied in “I didn’t have specific ideas about country has taken the best part of advice for companies from China France, but I don’t understand any­ China because I hadn’t work on the three decades to mature. as well as countries in the Middle thing about China, including its country for more than 15 years,” he Now at last, the bottle is open, East and Africa, helping them find language, culture and business said, recalling his first visit to the unfinished business is being fin­ investment partners and assisting model.’” mainland. ished, and Vairon, his clients and them in negotiations. Overseas companies and individ­ Before he arrived, the picture he China are savoring the results. Thousands of Chinese compa­ uals represent China, and any dis­ had of the country was mostly the It may seem strange that a man nies are flocking to Africa and the trust and criticism of them will result of what he had read in books who obtained a master’s degree in Middle East, and because of a lack influence people’s opinion about and newspapers, he explained, and Chinese language and culture and of cultural awareness on both sides China’s intentions regarding the the reality was an eye­opener for in political science in the 1970s — as well as other misunderstand­ country or the region. him. he also studied Russian and Viet­ Lionel Vairon (center) discusses the future of China­Europe relations ings, conflicts and poor decisions The need for China to be seen in a “What is interesting to compare namese — as well as a PhD in Far at a French channel show of China Central Television on Feb 1, 2019. arise, Vairon said. positive light is all the more impor­ is what you read in the newspapers Eastern studies should have taken PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Part of the reason is that China tant given the stiff competition in Europe and what you can under­ this long to get to the party. and Chinese companies are still too from likes of India, Japan, Russia stand when you come here and talk In the time it has taken him to often unable to adequately commu­ and Turkey, who have similar with people — provided you speak arrive, the Frenchman’s career has foot on the Chinese mainland Rise, published in New York in nicate effectively, causing their investment ambitions, Vairon said. Chinese.” been so varied that he can legiti­ before 2005. 2013. image to be tarnished. China needs friends, and the first As an example of this discrepan­ mately describe himself as a jour­ “We were so interested in China With an incisive review of Chi­ His wife, Vairon­Khao, a cross­ step in gaining them is to respect cy, he said years ago he had learned nalist, diplomat, academic, teacher, and love Chinese culture, so it’s a na’s economic strategy, deployment cultural consultant with their com­ and try to understand those you are that old houses in Beijing and author and consultant, one whose pity we didn’t do anything with it at of resources, national defense, pany, is just as committed to the trying to win over, he said. Shanghai were being demolished peripatetic path has taken him to that time,” Vairon said. political reform, ethnicity and reli­ idea of effective communication. When it comes to training to make way for new buildings, and various corners of the planet, nota­ Now he serves as a researcher, gion, terrorism and developments Operating overseas is not just employees, knowledge and respect he remembered reading criticism bly Africa, the Middle East and with the title senior fellow, at the in human rights, Vairon’s book about money, it is also about under­ of local culture and law should take in European newspapers about the Southeast Asia — via France and Charhar Institute in Beijing, found­ amply demonstrates that China standing how to communicate with priority over technical matters, he Chinese destroying their heritage. Luxembourg — and eventually to ed in October 2009. poses no threat to the world. locals, she said, adding that if a said. In this regard, the Western critics China. The institute bills itself as a pri­ On the contrary, it shows that group of Chinese, Arabs and Afri­ Culture has always been a priori­ were simply projecting their own First, after completing his Chi­ vate nonpartisan think tank focus­ China’s peaceful development cans are keen to work on some­ ty in Vairon’s business and research. fascination with exotic eastern nese studies, he took up a post ing on foreign policy and should be a matter of positive news thing, their inability to understand His passion is the result of the architecture, Vairon said, but after working as a journalist for the international relations. across the globe. each other can cause relationships influence of two professors who seeing for himself what was hap­ influential news magazine Jeune Vairon decided to resign from the The diplomat­turned­consult­ to quickly unravel. taught him Chinese at university, pening it became clear to him that Afrique in 1985. French Defense Ministry in 2008, ant, whose Chinese name is Wei “That’s why corporate diplomacy he says. the aim of tearing down old build­ He then worked for France’s For­ the same year in which China’s for­ Liunan, soon came up with the idea is so important,” Vairon­Khao said. Those professors stressed that ings was to provide better living eign Ministry on Africa and then on eign investment, most of which had of making use of his experience as a “We help people in their first steps, language is compulsory but not the conditions for people. Southeast Asian and Middle East­ flowed into Africa and Asia, soured. diplomat as well as his knowledge so they can get to the point where only way to learn about another “It is quite impressive to see the ern affairs. It was also the year in which Bei­ of Africa and the Middle East to negotiations begin.” country; just as important are the speed of China’s development, not He also worked for the French jing hosted the Olympic Games, an help Chinese companies wishing to For Africans and Arabs, China is history, culture and philosophy only for technology, but also for Defense Ministry. event that unleashed what Vairon go global. so alien that it might often seem that underpin that language. ordinary people,” he said. He and his wife, Nicole Vairon­ called a bout of “China bashing”, “We (he and his wife) had worked like another planet, the couple said, In 1981, Vairon and his wife went “I don’t think that even I quite Khao, have worked in Asian coun­ and that helped spur him to write all our lives with developing coun­ and if Chinese companies do not to Taiwan to continue studying Chi­ understand China, because every tries such as Cambodia, Thailand his book China Threat: The Challen­ tries and not with China, but we care enough about respecting and nese and stayed there for six time I come here I discover new and Iraq, but they had never set ges, Myths and Realities of China’s had the basis of Chinese language, understanding the people they months. Twenty­four years later, things.”