Melodies of the Dust Land Chapter 18

The revolutionary historical folk songs of northern Shaanxi also have documentary and practical characteristics.

Almost all narrative works in traditional folk songs in northern Shaanxi are records of real events in life. Such as "Waiwai", "Sansanlipu", "Panlong Street", "Pushing Chow Mein", "Eunuch Burning His Wife", etc. The time, place and names of the characters of the stories in the songs are clearly explained and true. It is correct, and many characters and events have their origins when examined now. For example, the prototype of "Orchid Flower" lived in Linzhen in northern Shaanxi; the heroine Fengying in "Sansanlipu" is still alive. Of course, as works of art, there is no need to verify these songs. Moreover, some songs have become far removed from the original material after being circulated for many years. But it can be seen from this that the documentary characteristics of northern Shaanxi folk songs have a long history.

In the revolutionary historical folk songs of northern Shaanxi, especially in the folk songs of the Agrarian Revolution period, the documentary characteristics are more prominent. Those narrative songs describing the revolutionary armed struggle are almost all true records of historical facts. For example, "Opening the Nangoucha": "In 1934, on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, the Nangoucha was opened, and the people welcomed it." "The Red Army Makes a Revolution": "In 1934, things were not peaceful, and our Red Army made a revolution; the leader of the Red Army, Bai Xueshan, wanted to occupy Qingjian...". Although many songs do not explain the specific time and place of the incident, what they describe is still historical facts, and even many numbers and details are the same. For example: "Attack on Sierpan" describes the Red Army's attack on Sierpan in the spring of 1935 - "Bombs were thrown down from Naopan", "Several casualties in the Sixth Company", " A bomb killed Battalion Commander Yang";

① Bai Xueshan, one of the underground party leaders in the eastern district of Qingjian County during the Agrarian Revolution in northern Shaanxi.

② Qingjian, the name of the county in northern Shaanxi.