The folklores of Gengcun village

Year: 2006

Sort: Folk Literature

Area: Hebei province

Serial No.: I-14

Declarer: Gaocheng city, Hebei province

Story telling is a long-standing tradition in Gengcun village, some 12 kilo meters away to the west of Gaocheng city. Every year, from April 1st to 4th of lunar calendar, a temple fair was held in memory of Geng Zaichen, the adoptive father of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). All kinds of folk arts including the most adored story telling were performed during the fair.

In the 1940s, the village had a small population of 400 people. But there were over 100 shops and workshops. The villagers who did business, travel and served in the army in other places brought home with them stories and legends from across the country. Over time, the village became a distributing center of commodities as well as folk literature.

The folklores of Gengcun village remained undiscovered until in the winter of 1986 when a young man went all the way to eported the amazing tradition in the village to the county government. It was not until then that the over-600-year-old folklore traditon finally had the chance to astonish the world.

Since then, relevant departments and organizations have conducted 11 general surveys in the village. Up to now, there are over 230 storytellers, 67 of which are approved as Masters of Folklore Telling. The folklores are passed down through relatives and couples.

Over 60 million words of Gengcun village folklores have been recorded and compiled. Domestic and foreign scholars have paid attention to the unique story-telling tradition in this village, and international academic meetings have been held for the research.

Interestingly, pupils of primary schools in Gengcun village all take an obligatory course called "story telling". Despite the efforts to hand down the tradition, the Folklore is still facing the danger of dying out and is in need of further protection from the nation, and the world as well.