Boatman's songs are the labor songs that boatmen sing while they are working. There are mainly Wujiang boatman's songs and Chishui River boatman's songs in Guizhou. Wujiang boatman's songs are mainly spread in Sinan County, Guizhou. Sinan County is located in the northeast of Guizhou and the west of Tongren Prefecture. It is located on the slope of the Wuling Mountains to the Dalou Mountains. The Wujiang River flows from east to west to Liangjiangkou in Sinan, and suddenly turns 90 degrees, flowing north through Sinan County, entering Chaodi Town in Dejiang County, passing through Yanhe County to Youyang and Pengshui in Chongqing, and merges into the Yangtze River in Fuling. The Wujiang River is 1,050 kilometers long and flows through Sinan for 79 kilometers. During the period of wooden boat transportation, the upper reaches could reach Huilongchang (Dawujiang). Later, after the river channel was regulated, the upper reaches could reach Yuzishan Beach. The Wujiang River in Sinan has a relatively uniform river course, mainly including more than ten large beaches such as Gaotan, Heihetan, and Tongluotan. The special geographical location makes the shipping industry of Wujiang River in Sinan very prosperous. Sinan Wujiang boatman's song is mainly distributed in 98 natural villages in 12 towns along the Wujiang River in Sinan. Sinan Wujiang boatman's song originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was formed and popular in the first year of Dafeng in the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty (1107). Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, merchants from Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Xi'an and Jiangxi have entered Sinan. Merchants have used the Wujiang waterway to set up several transfer points for tung oil, salt, timber, and other local specialties along the coast. Whether crossing the river or passing along the river, boats must be used, which increases the shipping capacity of Wujiang River. If the boat is heavy and the shoal is high, several wooden boats will form a gang when going up, and help each other to go ashore. When encountering a particularly large shoal when going down, the boats cannot pass, and they must jointly lift the goods ashore and transfer them across the shoal. Wujiang boatmen have become the most industrial labor force. In the past, the shoal was high and the waves were fierce, and accidents of boat capsizing were common. In order to work together, the boatmen created a primitive spoken language. Over time, people gradually created these spoken words with a certain rhythm, adding some simple melodic notes, thus forming a relatively complete boatman's song. With the increase of people living along the Wujiang River, Sichuan salt was imported into Guizhou, and local specialties were exported, and boatman's songs resounded along the Wujiang River. The Wujiang River boatman's song is rough, high-pitched, distant and undulating, and euphemistic. It is a combination of three male voices, echoing each other, with separation and combination, one after another. The song has many supporting words, rich content, and is full of humor. It reflects the Wujiang River boatman's image of not fearing severe cold and heat, fighting dangerous shoals, and resisting bad waves for life and nature. The brave image and optimistic attitude towards life. The Chishui River is located in the northwest corner of Guizhou Province. It originates in Zhenxiong, Yunnan, and passes through ten counties and cities in three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Since the sixth year of Jianyuan in the Han Dynasty, the boatmen of the Chishui River created boatman's songs when pulling or paddling to unify the pace to save time and effort, and relieve fatigue, pain and loneliness on the way. The boatman's song on the Chishui River is led by one person, with a sonorous and powerful rhythm, loud and clear singing, rich content, diverse forms, and cheerful rhythm. Regardless of whether it is upstream or downstream, the size of the ship, the shoal is dangerous or slow, the shoal is large or small, the number of trackers, the weight of the cargo, etc., the song is different. Most of the lyrics are taken from the real life experiences of the boatmen, and are randomly composed and sung by the boatmen in their daily work and life, with local characteristics. In the 1970s, the rise of a large number of motor ships gradually replaced the wooden boats that relied entirely on manpower to pull the boats upstream in history. In the late 1980s, the boatmen who had made great contributions to the history of shipping in the past completely bid farewell to their careers of pulling the boats. The river boatman's song also bid farewell to the Chishui River towpath. Today, most of the boatmen have died of old age and illness, and the few remaining boatmen are over 70 or 80 years old. Therefore, the river boatman's song is in an endangered state. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center