Category: Folk Literature

Region: Yunnan

Number: I-28

Reporting area or unit: Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

I. Introduction

Shilin culture is extensive and profound, and the Yi culture represented by Ashima is rich in connotation and has far-reaching influence. The most influential ones are One Poetry, One Shadow, One Song, One Dance, One Festival and One Embroidery. Ashima is a long narrative poem of Sani people, a branch of Yi nationality in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, which represents "one shadow" and "one song". "A poem" refers to the long narrative poem Ashima recorded in Yi language, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and distributed at home and abroad. "One Shadow" is a long poem adapted from China's first color music film "Ashima", which enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad.

Ashima tells or sings Ashima's story in oral poetic language. The story of Ashima's indomitable struggle against powerful forces reveals that light will eventually replace darkness, goodness and beauty will eventually replace ugliness, and freedom will eventually replace oppression and imprisonment, which embodies the national character and spirit of the Sani people of Yi nationality. Ashima is called "the song of our nation" by Sani people. The legend of Ashima has become a part of Sani people's daily life, weddings, funerals and celebrations, and is widely sung among the people. Its artistic charm has been renewed with the erosion of time, and it has become a brilliant treasure in the garden of Chinese national literature and is well-known in the world literary world.

Second, historical legends

Ashima is a classic legend of Yi people-Sani people. Smart, kind, beautiful and hardworking peasant girl Ashima fell in love with the brave and honest shepherd Ahei. Ashi, the son of the chief, pursued Ashima with both hard and soft, but Ashima resolutely refused. Thieves and bandits never die, and the central matchmaker went to force marriage with a bride price in the tropics, but was flatly rejected. So, A Zhi took advantage of Ahei's going to a distant place to shepherd sheep and sent someone to rob Ashima. Ashima took advantage of the gap to throw camellia into the stream, and the stream immediately flowed back, and Ahei was informed to rush back to the rescue. On the way, he was blocked by the mountain. He shot through the mountain with one arrow, opened the passage, and galloped his horse, making rapid progress. A Zhi tried all kinds of threats and inducements, but she couldn't make Ashima give in. Achi became angry from embarrassment and was about to whip Ashima, but Ahei arrived in time. A Zhi offered to fight a prophet. A Zhi lost, but still unwilling, he tried to shoot Ah Hei with an arrow. Angry Ah Hei shot the arrow through the gate of the village entrance and the pillar of the main hall, and the arrow hit the tablet of the Lord of God. Azhi ordered his family to pull the arrow hard, but the arrow did not move. Azhi was awed and had to release Ashima. Ashima and Ahei ride home happily together. They came to the river, got off their horses and took a nap. A Zhi and his men stole Ahei's arrow and drowned Ashima. Ah Hei called her name sadly, but Ashima turned into a towering stone statue and stayed in the world for thousands of years. As the local folk singer sang: "On the Twelve Cliffs, there stands a girl, who is a flower in the sky and a lovely Ashima." Long poems adopt romantic and mythical poetic techniques, highlighting the goodness and beauty, wisdom and strength, diligence and courage of characters.

Third, characteristics

The prototype of Ashima is written in Sani Yi language, which is the crystallization of collective wisdom formed by Sani people's painstaking efforts, and has a wide mass. Mainly spread in the Sani inhabited area of Yi nationality in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, it is divided into two similar schools: South and North. As a narrative poem, it can be sung as well as spoken, with the singing styles of "Happy Tone", "Old Man Tone", "Sad Tone", "Crying Tone" and "Curse Tone". There is no fixed occasion for singing, but it can be sung and spoken in many different occasions such as marriage, sacrifice, funeral, labor and life. In addition, it also has the following main features:

1, with lively content.

Stylistically speaking, Ashima is of course a long narrative poem, but its content is not dry at all, and it is very lyrical. It pours full and hearty emotions into every chapter, first section and every sentence. Make the whole poem like a big garden of life, colorful and fragrant.

2. The plot is simple

Although this is a narrative poem, the story is not too complicated. The Sani people use it to express their emotions, and it took 15600 lines to finish singing. They are telling stories, but they are actually praising their heroes. Love and hate are distinct and strong.

3. Rich rhetorical devices.

Ashima sang in five sentences, in which techniques such as foreshadowing, exaggeration and satire, homophonic, thimble, couplet and metaphor were used, and the content and form were perfectly unified.

Fourthly, the historical development of Ashima.

Fifty years ago, the Yi Sani folk narrative poem Ashima was published, which caused a sensation throughout the country. It has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean and other languages, and has been adapted into radio dramas, musicals, children's dramas and other art forms in Japan. In China, Ashima was adapted into a film and staged in various places, such as Beijing Opera, Yunnan Opera, Opera, Dance Opera and Sani Opera. China's first color wide-screen three-dimensional musical song and dance film "Ashima" 1982 won the first international music best dance film award in Santander. Ashima began to enjoy a high reputation at home and abroad.

Since then, the image of Ashima, who is hardworking, kind, good at singing and dancing, and not afraid of power, has lived not only in the hearts of the Yi Sani people, but also in the hearts of the people of the world forever. On August 6th, 2004, the International Symposium on Ashima, co-sponsored by Minzu University of China and Shilin County People's Government, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the publication of the narrative poem Ashima and the 40th anniversary of the filming of Ashima, which once again pushed Ashima onto the stage of the new century. Domestic and foreign experts and scholars from different regions and countries have the same desire. This is the first international academic seminar with the theme of Ashima. The convening of this conference marks a brand-new page in the study of Ashima, and also sets a milestone for the study of Ashima in the future.

However, with the changes of lifestyle, education system and social space in minority languages, the inheritance of Ashima is facing a crisis.

At present, the representative text of national intangible cultural heritage declared by Yi Sani's oral narrative poem Ashima is listed as a model text by the Ministry of Culture, and the Shilin county party committee and county government attach great importance to the declaration. We should protect a group of inheritors of the long oral narrative poem Ashima in Sani language of Yi people, protect a group of Ashima cultural ecological villages, compile a set of Ashima cultural series, plan to build a medium-sized Ashima cultural exhibition hall, establish Ashima cultural research institute, formulate a series of protection and development measures, register a number of Ashima cultural trademarks, and establish Ashima protection.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) inherits meaning.

Ashima is a long oral narrative poem in Sani language of Yi people, a beautiful song passed down orally by Sani people and a collective creation of Sani people from generation to generation. It fully embodies the living habits and customs of Sani people. This kind of life sentiment is embodied in poetry, which forms the characteristics different from other national poems. It is a long poem with rich ideological content and very beautiful, and it is also a long poem with national color in China people's literary treasure house.