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Story tradition in perilous state
By UNESCO website |
July 8, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
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YIMAKAN storytelling is essential to the worldview and historical memory of the Hezhen ethnic minority of northeast China. Narrated in the Hezhen language, and taking both verse and prose forms, Yimakan storytelling consists of many independent episodes depicting tribal alliances and battles, including the defeat of monsters and invaders by Hezhen heroes.
This oral heritage highlights the defence of ethnic identity and territorial integrity and preserves traditional knowledge of shamanic rituals, fishing and hunting. Yimakan performers improvise stories, singing and speaking, and use different melodies to represent different characters and plots.
As the Hezhen have no writing system, Yimakan plays a key role in preserving their mother tongue, religion, beliefs, folklore and customs. But with the acceleration of modernization and the standardization of school education, the Hezhen mother tongue is now endangered. This loss has become a major obstacle to the sustainability of the Yimakan tradition. Currently, only five master storytellers are capable of performing the episodes.
Hezhen Yimakan storytelling was inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding by UNESCO in 2011.
This oral heritage highlights the defence of ethnic identity and territorial integrity and preserves traditional knowledge of shamanic rituals, fishing and hunting. Yimakan performers improvise stories, singing and speaking, and use different melodies to represent different characters and plots.
As the Hezhen have no writing system, Yimakan plays a key role in preserving their mother tongue, religion, beliefs, folklore and customs. But with the acceleration of modernization and the standardization of school education, the Hezhen mother tongue is now endangered. This loss has become a major obstacle to the sustainability of the Yimakan tradition. Currently, only five master storytellers are capable of performing the episodes.
Hezhen Yimakan storytelling was inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding by UNESCO in 2011.
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