Sawndip literature

Last updated

Swandip literature consists of folk songs, operas, poems, scriptures, letters, contracts, and court documents written over one thousand years in the Zhuang language in Sawndip script. The Zhuang people produced this literature. [1] The works include both indigenous works and translations from Chinese, fact, fiction, religious, and secular materials. It gives insight into the life of the Zhuang and the people they have had contact with over two millennia. Only a small percentage has been published.

Contents

Characteristics

Sawndip literature is traditionally written in verse. Folk songs, or stories, are evolved over time. For example, Fwen Ciengzyeingz, meaning "Song to tell others", gives a philosophy of life, and of which Liáng Tíngwàng (梁庭望) observed (from the proper pronouns used), the song's origin was in the SuiTang dynasties and with its final form was set almost a thousand years later in the latter part of the Ming dynasty. [2]

The two main verse types are either five or seven characters per line, and commonly four lines to a stanza. In some texts lines are resung several times in set combinations, although the lines are only written once. Waist rhyming is common. Older manuscripts for antiphonal songs only record the male lyrics, whereas modern versions may include both male and female lyrics.

Notable works

The Orphan Girl and the Rich Girl (Cinderella)

One fairy tale that has attracted much attention is "The orphan girl and the rich girl", an early version of Cinderella (Zhuang "Dahgyax Dahbengz" Dah - indicates female, gyax means "orphan" and bengz means "rich") found in Zhuang opera scripts. Ye Xian, a 9th-century Chinese translation of the Zhuang story was written in the Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang [3] and the modern Sawndip versions are quite similar. Analysis suggests these versions took shape no later than the 10th century. [4]

Song about Tang Emperors

"Song about Tang Emperors" ("𠯘唐皇" Fwen Dangzvuengz), is about 5,000 lines long, and mainly about Li Dan the fifth and ninth emperor of the Tang dynasty born in 662. The content is similar to sections of the 18th-century Chinese historical novel Xue gang fan tang (薛刚反唐); hence, it may be an adaptation. Some manuscript evidence suggests it was already in circulation in the 17th century. [5] [6]

The house-building song

"The house-building song" has been sung for over a thousand years. [7] It has two parts. The first describes the construction of a traditional stilt house and the second part the customs to ward evil away from the new home. [8]

The Origin of the Bronze Drum

"The Origin of the Bronze Drum" tells of the origin of bronze drums that are like "stars" (such drums have a star in the middle of them), that they are as many as the stars of the sky and like stars can ward off evil spirits. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhuang people</span> Tai-speaking ethnic group of Southern China

The Zhuang ; Sawndip: 佈獞) are a Tai-speaking ethnic group who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. Some also live in the Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hunan provinces. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. With the Bouyei, Nùng, Tày, and other Northern Tai speakers, they are sometimes known as the Rau or Rao people. Their population, estimated at 18 million people, makes them the largest minority in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guilin</span> Prefecture-level city in Guangxi

Guilin, formerly romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the north. Its name means "forest of sweet osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant sweet osmanthus trees located in the region. The city has long been renowned for its scenery of karst topography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bouyei people</span> Ethnic group

The Bouyei, otherwise known as the Zhongjia, are an ethnic group living in Southern Mainland China. Numbering 2.5 million, they are the 11th largest of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liang dynasty</span> Chinas Southern Dynasties (502–557)

The Liang dynasty, alternatively known as the Southern Liang or Xiao Liang in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the Southern Qi dynasty and succeeded by the Chen dynasty. The rump state of Western Liang existed until it was conquered in 587 by the Sui dynasty.

For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC, and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Jing (Tang dynasty)</span> Chinese Tang dynasty general (571–649)

Li Jing, courtesy name Yaoshi, posthumously known as Duke Jingwu of Wei, was a Chinese military general, strategist, and writer who lived in the early Tang dynasty and was most active during the reign of Emperor Taizong. In 630, Li Jing defeated the Göktürks, led by Jieli Khan, with just 3,000 cavalry soldiers in a surprise attack, allowing the Tang Empire to subjugate the Göktürks and reduce them to the status of a vassal under the Tang Empire. Li Jing and Li Shiji are considered the two most prominent early Tang generals.

<i>Historical Records of the Five Dynasties</i> 1073 book by Ouyang Xiu

The Historical Records of the Five Dynasties is a Chinese history book on the Five Dynasties period (907–960), written by the Song dynasty official Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to 1039 but not published until 1073, a year after his death. An abridged English translation by Richard L. Davis was published in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cihang Zhenren</span> Taoist figure of Guanyin

Cihang Zhenren is a Daoist deity and character in the classic Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods. He is a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun and one of the Three Great Immortals, holding the ninth position among the Twelve Golden Immortals.

Tianyang District is a district in western Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yanling County, Henan</span> County in Henan, Peoples Republic of China

Yanling County is a county in the central part of Henan province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Xuchang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standard Zhuang</span> Standard variety and register of the Zhuang Tai (Kra-Dai) language cluster

Standard Zhuang is the official standardized form of the Zhuang languages, which are a branch of the Northern Tai languages. Its pronunciation is based on that of the Yongbei Zhuang dialect of Shuangqiao Town in Wuming District, Guangxi with some influence from Fuliang, also in Wuming District, while its vocabulary is based mainly on northern dialects. The official standard covers both spoken and written Zhuang. It is the national standard of the Zhuang languages, though in Yunnan a local standard is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beiting Protectorate</span> Tang dynasty administrative region

The Beiting Protectorate-General, initially the Beiting Protectorate, was a Chinese protectorate established by the Tang dynasty in 702 to control the Beiting region north of Gaochang in contemporary Xinjiang. Wu Zetian set up the Beiting Protectorate in Ting Prefecture and granted it governorship over Yi Prefecture (Hami) and Xi Prefecture (Gaochang). The Beiting Protectorate ended in 790 when Tingzhou was conquered by the Tibetan Empire. The ruins, along with other sites along the Silk Road, were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Meng Jiang</span> Fictional character

Lady Meng Jiang or Meng Jiang Nü is a Chinese tale with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Lady Meng Jiang's husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wall of China. Lady Meng Jiang heard nothing after his departure, so she set out to bring him winter clothes. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the Great Wall, her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she wept so bitterly that a part of the Great Wall collapsed, revealing his bones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sawgoek</span> Mythological ancient script of the Zhuang people of southern China

Sawgoek or sawva was a mythological ancient script mentioned in the Zhuang creation epic Baeu Rodo. The primordial god Baeu Ro was said to have brought sawgoek containing four thousand glyphs along with fire to the Zhuang people. However, in their unfamiliarity with fire, the people stored the fire under a thatched roof, causing the house to catch on fire. The sawgoek was consumed in the ensuing conflagration, and knowledge of writing was lost. Some Zhuang scholars believe that this myth stems from a vague remembrance of sawgoek in the collective consciousness of the Zhuang people long after knowledge of the writing system had been forgotten.

The Zhuang have a rich variety of customs and culture.

"The Legend of Wenlong" is an ancient folk story of Han Chinese origin, that was early on adopted by several people groups in Southern China including the Zhuang. It is also known by the name of the associated Chinese opera Liu Wenlong and the Water-chestnut Mirror. It is now a traditional song of the Zhuang people that is sung at the Dragon Boat Festival in some places.

<span title="Zhuang-language text"><i lang="za">Sawndip</i></span> Ideographic writing system of the Zhuang language

Sawndip are Chinese characters used to write the Zhuang languages in the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. The script has been used not only by the Zhuang people but also by the closely related Bouyei in Guizhou, China; the Tay in Vietnam; and the Nùng in Yunnan, China, and Vietnam. Sawndip is a Zhuang word that means "immature characters". The Zhuang word for Chinese characters used in the Chinese languages is sawgun ; gun is the Zhuang term for the Han Chinese. Even now, in traditional and less formal domains, Sawndip is more often used than alphabetical scripts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiangji Temple (Shaanxi)</span> Buddhist temple in Shaanxi, China

Xiangji Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Chang'an District of Xi'an, Shaanxi. The temple is regarded as the cradle of Pure Land Buddhism.

Li Bing, was a Chinese politician of the Northern Zhou dynasty, during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. He was the father of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Tang dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongtianguanfu</span> A type of court attire worn by the emperors of China

Tongtianguanfu is a form of court attire in hanfu which was worn by the emperor during the Song dynasty on very important occasions, such as grand court sessions and during major title-granting ceremonies. The attire traces its origin from the Han dynasty.It was also worn in the Jin dynasty emperors when the apparel system of the Song dynasty was imitated and formed their own carriages and apparel system, and in the Ming dynasty. The tongtianguanfu was composed of a red outer robe, a white inner robe, a bixi, and a guan called tongtianguan, and a neck accessory called fangxin quling.

References

  1. Liang, Tingwang (2007). 壮文论集 Anthology of Written Zhuang by 梁庭望. 中央民族大学出版社 Central Minorities University Press. pp. 153–158. ISBN   9787811084368.
  2. Liáng, Tíngwàng 梁庭望 (2005). 壮族伦理道德长诗传扬歌译注. pp. 5–81. 广西民族出版社
  3. 广西民间故事(二). pp. 7–8.
  4. 周作秋. 壮族文学发展史 (上册). p. 416.
  5. 广西大百科全书 Encyclopedia of Guangxi. Vol. 5. p. 445. ISBN   9787500079729.
  6. 朱恒夫. 清代戏曲抄本叙录 A Catalogue of Qing Dynasty Opera Manuscripts.
  7. Liao Songs of Pingguo Zhuang Songs of March page 60 ISBN   978-7-5495-1097-9
  8. Liao Songs of Pingguo Zhuang Songs of March pages 56 ISBN   978-7-5495-1097-9
  9. 广西民间故事(二) pages 129-133