Shiqiu Fishing Songs

Item name and level

The Shiqiu Fishing Songs appear in Appendix 2, the district-level ICH list, of the third batch of district-level ICH material, which states that the list contains 22 items in total; the name given there is "Shijiu Fishing Songs".

According to a reply of 28 November 2023 from the Lishui District Culture and Tourism Bureau, eight projects were reported as entering the municipal-level representative ICH list in January 2023, among them Tiger-head Shoes, Hand-torn Chicken, Mingjue Pickled Greens, Helinfang Twin Dragons, Shrimp Lantern Dance and Shiqiu Fishing Songs. In the reply the project is written as the Shiqiu Fishing Songs. This entry records the level as municipal and the item type as traditional music, and leaves the batch number and the guardian unit pending verification.

Points in doubt

The same project is written differently in two documents: Appendix 2 of the third-batch district list gives "Shijiu Fishing Songs", while the municipal application as reported in the bureau reply gives "Shiqiu Fishing Songs". The two place-name elements are written with different characters. Both wordings are reproduced here without being merged, and no conclusion is drawn as to whether they refer to the same project; the formal full name must be checked against the published district and municipal documents.

To be added

The tunes and lyrics, the occasions and the number of singers, the accompanying instruments, the area and the number of generations through which the songs have passed, the bearers, and the project number and gazette batch number in the municipal list are all absent from the cited sources. Neither cited document records the content of the songs or the way they are performed; both give the project name and its listing status only.