Folk songs are the oldest artistic flowers and one of the longest literary styles in human history. They are also a mirror reflecting folk customs. Zitong folk songs are a gorgeous flower in the treasure house of Zitong folk art. They are active in the vast urban and rural areas, have strong vitality, are loved by the masses, and are an important spiritual food for the masses' production, labor, life, and entertainment. Zitong folk songs were produced in the long-term labor, production and life of the Diqiang indigenous people of Zitong. Now there are 310 songs collected and sorted (see Appendix 1: Zitong folk song catalog). The folk songs of our county are widely distributed, rich in content, and have unique local colors. To this day, folk songs are widely sung in Zitong. There are many types, including trumpets, mountain songs, love songs, field songs, lantern songs, custom songs, etc., with very rich content. The trumpet is a form of folk song created by the working people when they are doing production labor in the mountains and fields, generally in collective labor to unify the labor rhythm. There are many types of trumpets in Zitong. Mountain songs are mostly spread in the mountains and fields, and are attached to collective or individual labor. In Zitong, there are many types of folk songs, which are very self-entertaining and practical. The folk songs of Zitong have basically left the labor scene and are mainly popular in wine shops, teahouses, and festivals. Secondly, the singing class, in addition to farmers, is more popular among citizens, businessmen, small handicraftsmen, and even some professional and semi-professional singers (mainly folk artists, suona players, etc.). There is another more important change, that is, the artistic function. The calls and folk songs are very self-entertaining and practical, while the functions of the minor songs have basically faded and become a genre that is mainly "entertaining people". Especially after the emergence of folk artists who make a living by singing, its performance has become increasingly strengthened, and thus a series of characteristics different from other genres have gradually formed in terms of subject matter and form of expression. Since Zitong is deeply influenced by Sichuan Opera, the folk minor songs of Zitong are combined with rap, drama, and sacrifice, and conditions have been created for going on stage. The themes sung by Zitong folk songs are very extensive, covering almost everything from marriage and love, parting sorrow, local customs, human feelings, entertainment and play to natural common sense, historical stories, folk legends, etc. of different social classes in the city. The content of Zitong folk songs is quite extensive, including those praising the party and the leader, reflecting love life, wedding and funeral customs, and adjusting emotions and amusing. In particular, folk songs reflecting love and marriage life are the most numerous in Zitong. Since love is the theme of all arts, love songs account for a considerable proportion of Zitong folk songs. It shows the spirit of Zitong people who love life and love labor. It shows the thinking logic with great national characteristics. What is more characteristic of Zitong is that in the long-term production labor, people have also blended part of folk songs into folk customs and sacrifices. The expression forms of Zitong folk songs are also diverse, including solo, chorus, duet, one leading and many, etc. Many Zitong folk songs reflect agricultural production customs. In many places, farmers must sing folk songs when farming, which has been a custom since ancient times. There are many kinds of field songs, including weeding songs, tamping songs, rice planting songs, stone pulling songs, etc. Each song has different tunes and singing forms in different places. The accompaniment instruments are mainly suona, erhu and Sichuan opera gongs and drums. There are many gongs and drums. There are two forms of gongs and drums: one is sung by the field with gongs and drums accompaniment, and the other is sung by the workers themselves without gongs and drums accompaniment. Or it is composed of the main tune and the call, and one leads the others. The leader sings the main tune (high tune, sad tune, gongs and drums), and the others sing the call (lifting stones, pulling stones, etc.). The melody of "Weeding Gongs and Drums" is high-pitched and beautiful, with a strong pastoral flavor. Since ancient times, there has been a custom of using folk songs to express wedding ceremonies in various places in Zitong. For example, "Crying Wedding Song", "Worship Song" and "The Bride and Groom Singing Cup-to-Cup Wine Song" are still widely circulated among the people. Folk songs reflect the whole process of the marriage ceremony in a relatively comprehensive way. In addition, singing filial songs is also very common in Zitong. When there is a funeral, the master goes to the bereaved family to light lamps and set up statues, and stays vigil with the coffin, crying and singing, which is called "crying at the funeral." "Songs of Worshiping Incense", "Songs of Sacrifice", and "Songs of Praising Incense" are tear-jerking because of their mournful tunes. There are religious ritual songs such as "God Dance Song", "Nuo Dance", "Duangong Dance", and "Land Dance". Zitong folk songs are colorful and have unlimited vitality. Today, Zitong folk songs have been integrated into the melody of the Chinese ballad chorus in terms of content and form, adding beautiful brilliance to our modern life. Information source: Mianyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: Mianyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.)