Chunguan Talking about Spring is a kind of Han folk storytelling art in Hanzhong, Ankang, northern Sichuan and eastern Gansu in Shaanxi Province. It is an intangible cultural heritage protection project in Shaanxi Province. In winter and spring, Chunguan goes from village to village to tell stories and sings stories. It is usually performed by one person. Sometimes, when entering streets or densely populated villages, they adopt duets, singing and joint singing, which has a better singing effect. After each performance, the Chunguan gives a spring card to the head of the household, and the head of the household will give the Chunguan a "gift", food or money. This kind of performance is not limited by the venue, does not use music scores, and has both storytelling and singing. The content of the lyrics is very extensive, and the song is passed down from master to apprentice. The lyrics are often composed on the spot, and what words are said to what people are met, "what songs are sung in what mountains". The language is humorous and humorous, and the singing is harmonious and rhymed. The content of the singing keeps up with the times, and the lyrics are changed at any time and according to the scene. Therefore, people with smart brains, quick reactions, culture and strong verbal skills can become a good Chunguan. Historical Origin of Spring Clerks Talking about Spring Spring clerks originated from the royal family during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The development of ancient agricultural production played a very important role in the stability and strength of the country; and the agricultural seasons were the phenological basis for guiding farmers to cultivate. Spring clerks could send spring notes recording the seasons to thousands of households, so the government attached great importance to Spring Clerks Talking about Spring. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the government also attached great importance to Spring Clerks Talking about Spring. Every year on the day of the beginning of spring, the prefectures and county governments would hold grand ceremonies to send off the spring. The practice was to hold a Spring Clerk meeting in the suburbs, perform on-site Spring Talking, burn incense and offer sacrifices to the sky, pray for good weather and good harvests, and then the prefecture and county officials would personally hold the plow and drive the cattle to plow the land three times, which also showed that the government attached importance to agricultural production. This ceremony continued until 1949. Some Spring Clerks also improvised lyrics and sang according to the time, place and surrounding atmosphere. Traditional lyrics are generally more elegant and artistic. For example, the song of the O gate: "As soon as you enter the door, you will feel happy. The gods send you a BMW with gold. This place is originally a prosperous place. God has given you a money tree." Most of the Chunguan masters have handwritten copies, which are passed down from generation to generation. Due to the changes of the times and the Cultural Revolution, the surviving songbooks are very rare, but the old Chunguan can still sing them by memory. There are many singing segments of the 72 lines of rap, and there are special lyrics for blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, dyers, barbers, doctors, teachers, hunters, boatmen, businessmen, officials, monks, Taoists, shamans, witches and other industries. At present, there are more than 1,000 lyrics that Chunguan can recite. In the early days, Chunguan was distributed in a very wide area, but with the changes of the times, the activity area of Chunguan gradually retreated from the plains to the hilly and mountainous areas. The areas where they are still active are mainly in Hanzhong and Ankang areas in Shaanxi and parts of northern Sichuan and eastern Gansu, covering about 30 counties and about 10 million people. After more than 2,000 years of evolution, the Spring Boy's Talking about Spring has become a cultural phenomenon with unique regional characteristics. The main content of Spring Boy's Talking about Spring I. Characteristics of Talking and Singing (I) Tune Spring Boy's Talking about Spring is a chanting style. Its musical characteristics are that there are more words and fewer tunes, generally no dragging tunes, regular rhythm, weak melody, and mostly upper and lower sentence structures. The tone is almost a slightly sublimated language, and the four tones are slightly exaggerated. This combination of speaking and singing, often expressed as half speaking and half singing, has become a unique style of singing in rap music. "Folk songs sing emotions, operas sing dramas, and raps sing stories", this is said by their respective prominent musical characteristics. Of course, folk songs can also be narrative, raps can also be lyrical, and operas can have both, but from the main characteristics, the three are different. The melody structure of Spring Lyrics is mostly based on the traditional pentatonic mode of my country, and the zhi tune is a common mode. Some artists will occasionally add the seven-tone yu mode of "qingjiao" and "biangong" to the pentatonic mode, but it is generally rarely used. (II) Language Chun Guan Shuo Chun is sung in the local dialect of Hanzhong in southern Shaanxi, and the pronunciation is based on the dialect of the Bashan area. From the perspective of regional language characteristics, Nanzheng is located in the upper reaches of the Han River. Although it belongs to Shaanxi, it is adjacent to northern Sichuan. The language is very close to the Sichuan dialect and belongs to the Southwest Mandarin system. Therefore, the tone and form of the Chun Ci are very different from Guanzhong Daoqing and Shaanxi Northern Storytelling; and it is very close to the rhyme of the local opera in northern Sichuan, which feels similar. Occasionally, I heard that it is similar to the number of rhythms in the long singing of the boatman (Huaguzi) in the folk fire "Running on the Land Boat" in southern Shaanxi. There are more words and fewer rhythms, and the rhythm follows the pronunciation of the words. The difference is that the lyrics are more humorous and rhymed. 2. The Spring Festival Rituals The Spring Festival attendant carries a saddle bag on his shoulder, holding a spring ox in one hand and a Mongolian stick in the other. When he arrives at a household, he first places the Mongolian stick outside the door of the hall, and he cannot put it randomly or even fall down. The Spring Festival attendant usually starts singing as soon as he enters the hall. The lyrics are mostly blessings, auspiciousness, and festive expressions. This is the opening lyrics, and then the lyrics turn to the theme. The theme varies from person to person and from case to case, such as talking about all walks of life, weddings and funerals, and saying what to say in any occasion to make the listeners happy. Finally, he sings farewell and thanks, and sends a Spring Festival invitation to the householder. At this time, the host gives a gift to express his gratitude. The host uses a shengzi (a kind of scale in the old days) or a dou (rich families use dou, ordinary families use sheng) to put food (some people take out 50 cents or 1 yuan) and gives it to the Spring Festival attendant, who then puts the food into the saddle bag. Some people take out some hemp silk and wrap it around the spring ox according to custom, to show that the spring ox will take away diseases such as measles, smallpox, and chickenpox. When the spring herald leaves, he takes away the Mongolian stick outside the door, to show that he has taken away the bad luck and misfortune of the host family and brought peace to the host family. When the spring herald goes to any house, he can enter the main hall door, but he must not walk through the main hall ridge purlin or enter the inner room, otherwise, the host will make trouble for the spring herald and will not give him a gift. (I) Spring cards are divided into red and yellow. Yellow spring cards are smaller and mainly focus on the 24 solar terms. The tenth month of the lunar calendar is also called the first spring. At this time, the spring herald comes to the door to talk about spring, mainly focusing on the 24 solar terms, telling the farmers the time sequence and climate characteristics of the coming year, and presenting yellow spring cards. Red spring cards are larger. Starting from the first day of the first lunar month, the spring herald holds a red spring card when he talks about spring, to show the meaning of joy and auspiciousness. The content of the Spring Post is quite rich, with records from the first day of the first lunar month to the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. It is very clear which day is an auspicious day and which day is taboo. There are also tips that predict the phenological characteristics of the year and the quality of the harvest, such as how many days to get the core (the length of time for rice and wheat to bloom and pollinate), how many people to share a cake, how many cows to plow the field, how many butchers to share a pig, etc. In the old days, the Spring Post was printed by artists themselves by carving woodblocks. (II) Spring Ox The Spring Ox is made of wood, black, with a lady riding on its back. The Spring Ox is 175 mm tall, 155 mm long from the head to the tail, and the ox's hooves are on a wooden board. The board is 120 mm long, 85 mm wide, and 12 mm thick. It is said that the Spring Ox was transformed from Yang Guang, and the lady riding on the back of the ox is Yang Guang's sister Yang Chouchou. According to legend, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty was licentious and immoral, and the government was neglected. Some people wanted to execute Yang Guang. On the 13th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar, people used bamboo strips to weave paper-pasted cows to worship the heavens, in order to identify the signs of climate change in the coming year. On this day, Yang Guang took the opportunity to hide in the paper-pasted cow and planned to escape, but was discovered and beaten to death by the crowd. His sister Yang Chouchou also hated Yang Guang, and rode on the back of the black cow while scolding Yang Guang and whipping the cow. Therefore, the 13th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar was designated as the Spring Cow Festival, and the Spring Cow must hold the Spring Cow when sending off the Spring. There is a saying among the people that "the Spring Cow Cow is wrapped with hemp" because for thousands of years, people have deified the saying of Spring. Farmers believe that it is mysterious and difficult to explain why the festival of the next year can be accurately printed on the Spring Post in advance, and that crops can be planted without error according to this festival. At that time, it was common and terrible for children to get measles, chickenpox, and smallpox. According to folk legend, when the Spring Cow Cow came home, he would wrap hemp around the Spring Cow. After the Spring Cow Cow left, he would take away diseases such as measles, chickenpox, and smallpox, and the children would be safe. (3) Mongolian stick Mongolian stick is also called funeral stick. It is made of a wood with bumps and strange shapes. It is pitch black. It can be used to explore the road and beat dogs for self-defense. The prostitute cannot bring this stick into the host's house. He can only stand it outside the door. It is said that after the prostitute leaves, the evil spirits and bad luck of the host's house will be taken away with the stick, and the host's family will be lucky. (4) Saddlebag Saddlebag is also called Erjiu. It is mostly made of white or blue cloth. It is shaped like a pocket with a slit in the middle. The slit is placed on the shoulder. It is used by prostitutes to carry food and other items. In addition, prostitutes say that there are many jargons, taboos, and code words in spring, which are often mysterious and are now abandoned. (No pictures yet, please provide them.) (No pictures yet, please provide them.)