Xiaohai Xin Village
Xiaohai Xin 1 Village (小海新村) is located in Tangzi Street, Xundian Yi and Hui Autonomous County (寻甸彝族回族自治县), Kunming City, Yunnan Province. It is a typical resettlement village. Originally named Xiaohai Village, it underwent a transformation in 2017 when 33 households from Shanhou Village, located 10 kilometers away and facing geological hazards, were relocated to Xiaohai Village with the support of China’s poverty alleviation policies. This relocation led to the renaming of the village as Xiaohai Xin Village. Currently, the village consists of 77 households of original villagers and 33 households of newly relocated villagers. All 33 relocated households are registered impoverished households and have been allocated newly built brick-concrete structured houses. The village is a pure Miao community, belonging to the Da Hua Miao subgroup and speaking the Northeastern Yunnan Miao dialect. In 2020, it was designated as a Featured Village of Ethnic Minorities in China, highlighting its unique cultural and linguistic heritage.
小海新村位于云南省昆明市寻甸彝族和回族自治县的塘子街道。是一个典型的易地搬迁村庄。该村原名为小海村，在中国扶贫攻坚政策的推动下，于2017年迎来了来自10公里外山后村地质灾害隐患点的33户村民，随着这次搬迁，村庄更名为小海新村。目前，村落共由77户老村民和33户新迁入的村民共同组成。新迁入的33户村民均为建档立卡贫困户，并且每户都分到了新建的砖混结构安居房。该村落是一个纯粹的苗族社区，隶属于大花苗的支系，并且使用的是滇东北地区的苗族方言。于2020年被命名为中国少数民族特色村寨。
1. the ‘Xin’ is Pinyin to ‘新’, which is the Chinese word for ‘new’.
Miao Musical Culture in Xiaohai Xin Village
The villagers of Xiaohai Xin Village possess a profound passion for music and dance, reflected in the existence of two performing arts groups: the Old Village Art Troupe and the New Village Art Troupe, with the former is organized into senior, youth, and children’s team. The village’s music and dance are rich and varied, with the older generation primarily preserving the Miao’s traditional songs, such as ancient tunes, flying songs, and Lusheng (mouth organ) tunes. On the other hand, the younger villagers show a preference for modern innovation, enthusiastically embracing newly composed and original Miao songs and dances, as well as contemporary popular music.
Villagers primarily engage in farming and poultry rearing for their livelihoods. In the evenings, after dinner, they come together to relax and entertain themselves with singing and dancing. Here’s a glimpse of the village youths gathering in the activity room after dinner, casually dancing to DJ remixes of Miao songs.
村民们对音乐舞蹈的热忱很高，该村落有两支文艺队：老村文艺队和新村文艺队，其中老村文艺队又分为老年人组、青年人组和儿童组。村里的音乐舞蹈形式多样，中老年人群主要传承苗族的传统歌曲，如古歌、飞歌和芦笙调，而中青年群体则偏爱现代化的创新，热衷于新编曲和原创的苗族歌曲与舞蹈，以及流行歌曲。村民们日常以农耕和家禽养殖为生，通常在晚上劳作之余会聚集在一起，通过唱歌和跳舞来放松娱乐。
ECura’s Meeting with Miao Community Leader Haiyan Long
Dr. Lijuan Qian conducted a month-long fieldwork in Yunnan in July 2024. During this period, she met with Haiyan Long, the collaborative community leader of the Miao community, to discuss current preservation strategies and explore ways in which the ECura project team could technologically and with equipment to assist the Miao villagers in promoting their traditional music and dance.
Lijuan and Haiyan first met in 2017 while Lijuan was working on her Irish Research Council and CAROLINE Cofund research project, ‘Working with NGOs In and Outside Traditional Music in Yunnan’. Haiyan, a Miao native born and raised in Yunnan, is also the first university graduate from her village. Working full-time at an NGO in Yunnan, Haiyan has spent her spare time preparing for the national graduate entrance examination for five consecutive years. Her perseverance and diligence paid off, as she has been admitted to Yunnan Agricultural University for a master’s degree in Rural Development, starting this September.
Long believes that her collaboration with ECura and academic interactions can enhance her professional experience, which in turn will support her studies. She aims to continually act as a bridge between the ECura project team and the Miao villagers, fostering the sustainable development of Miao people’s music and dance through various initiatives.
2024年7月，钱丽娟博士在云南进行了为期一个月的田野采风。在此期间，她与苗族社区的负责人龙海燕会面，讨论了当前的保护策略，并探讨了ECura项目团队在技术和设备上如何协助苗族村民推广他们的传统音乐和舞蹈。
丽娟和海燕的首次见面是在2017年，当时丽娟正在云南进行她的爱尔兰研究理事会和CAROLINE联合基金研究项目“在云南与传统音乐内外的非政府组织合作”。海燕是在云南土生土长的苗族人，也是她所在的苗族村的首位大学毕业生。大学毕业后，海燕在云南的一家非政府组织全职工作，并利用业余时间连续五年准备国家研究生入学考试。她的坚持和努力得到了回报，今年9月，她被云南农业大学录取攻读农村发展硕士学位。
海燕表示，与ECura项目的合作和学术交流可以提升她的专业经验，有利于她今后的学术研究。她旨在继续充当ECura项目团队与苗族村民之间的桥梁，促进苗族音乐和舞蹈的可持续发展。