Salt field folk songs are a folk literature project in the fourth batch of representative projects of Lianyungang's municipal intangible cultural heritage. Huaibei salt folk songs are one of the forms of folk oral literature that have long been circulated in the Huaihe River coastal area of Jiangsu Province. Their language style is simple, concise, and catchy; most of the content is closely related to the production, life, local natural ecology, climate, etc. of salt folks, reflecting the social ecology and ideological feelings of salt folks in the long-term historical development process. Although, with the changes in the world and social development, the content of some ballads can no longer reflect the mainstream thinking of the times, many ballads are still preserved and continue to circulate among the people, which has a certain impact on the residents of Lianyungang and the coastal areas of northern Jiangsu. The coastal area of Jiangsu has a long history of sea salt production. The Huai salt produced locally was a royal tribute in the past and has made great contributions to the country's economic construction in history. Huai salt production began in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Historically, it has been said that "the benefits of boiling the sea are mainly in the southeast, and the two Huais are the best." During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Huaibei salt industry developed further. By the 1970s, Huai salt was one of the important industries in Lianyungang and Yancheng areas along the Jiangsu coast. Huai salt production not only created a brilliant economy, but also gave birth to a rich Huai salt culture. The salt farmers have lived in the salt field area for a long time, accumulated rich knowledge of the salt industry and life, and combined with local history, culture and natural environment to create a brilliant Huai salt culture. The gardens of Suzhou in Jiangsu, the prosperity of Yangzhou and Huai'an, and the social ecological environment of Lianyungang and Yancheng are inseparable from the Huai salt culture. The Huaibei salt folk ballads are rooted in this soil. The time began in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has been continuously inherited and developed. The distribution area is concentrated in Lianyungang and Yancheng. The salt folk ballads are passed on by word of mouth, and are mostly sung by the salt farmers in their leisure time after dinner and tea. The main content includes regional social status, production and life, and seasonal climate. There are "Salt Workers' Songs" and "Water-Booming Songs" sung during the production process, as well as songs related to solar term production; there are "Salt Head" and "It's Great That the Communist Party Has Come" reflecting life. There are also "Salt Market Songs" and "Bitter Girl Picking Shepherd's Purse" that express thoughts, emotions and social customs; there are also some entertaining jingles, etc. In short, the content is extensive, vivid and rich. For example, "After walking two or three miles, there are four or five salt markets, and there is no building without flowers in all seasons." This is a description of the landscape of salt flats and salt fields, and at the same time, it is also a portrayal of the real life and social customs of salt workers in the old salt fields. Another example is "The Boss's Song", "He is called the Salt Boss. He lives in Shandong, with dilapidated earthen walls. He lowers his head when he enters the house. He covers himself with a reed quilt, wears woolen clothes, and a torn jacket with exposed shoulders. He keeps his head uncovered all day long. He eats moldy sticks and bitter vegetables. He is a black-hearted salt merchant and a salt policeman, a bandit. He will starve to death in the village and bury himself in the ground. This kind of bitter life will last until the end of the year." "It's Good That the Communist Party Came" is a new folk song, which forms a sharp contrast with "The Salt Boss". The ballad goes: "It's great that the Communist Party came. The villagers no longer wear torn cotton-padded jackets. The village heads built new tile houses and had enough rice and flour. It's great that the Communist Party came. All the evil officials and merchants were overthrown. The villagers became permanent workers and received monthly wages. It's great that the Communist Party came. Meetings were held to discuss any problems. Men and women are equal and democratic, and production is carried out in unity and mutual assistance. It's great that the Communist Party came. Cultural life has been greatly improved. People who went to winter school can go to night school and all illiterate people can be taken off." The ballads of the Huaibei salt folks have very obvious regional and artistic characteristics. Generally, the ballads are written in three, five or seven characters, with flat and oblique rhymes and are catchy. The words and sentences are simple and easy to remember, and the regional characteristics are obvious. This can be seen from the examples listed above. For example, the "Head Song", the language nouns such as "Salt Head", "Yuan Merchant", "Reed Quilt" and "Ba Dao Tou" mentioned in the content also have very distinct regional cultural characteristics. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)