Baojuan (Hexi Baojuan)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Baojuan (Hexi Baojuan)

Applicant: Zhangye City, Gansu Province

Item No.: 13

Project No.: I-13

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Gansu Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Zhangye City, Gansu Province

Protection unit: Zhangye Cultural Center (Zhangye Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance and Protection Center)

Brief introduction of Baojuan (Hexi Baojuan)

Applicant: Zhangye City, Gansu Province

Hexi Baojuan is a kind of folk rap literature spread in Hexi area of Gansu Province. It evolved from Dunhuang Bianwen in Tang Dynasty, folklore and shuojing in Song Dynasty. It is widely spread in rural areas along Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province.

Hexi Baojuan is influenced by Huaben, novels, GongDiao and operas. Its content includes the doctrines of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as a large number of non religious folk myths, legends, operas and stories of historical figures. It mainly shows the traditional moral education content of punishing evil and promoting good, loyalty, filial piety and benevolence. More than 700 kinds of Hexi Scrolls have been collected, and more than 110 Scrolls have been collected. Most of them came from the Central Plains. In the process of spreading in Hexi, many local customs and dialects were added. A few of them were created by Hexi folk artists themselves, such as "fairy girl scroll" reflecting the struggle and life of Zhangye people, "looted scroll" reflecting the Wuwei earthquake, and "rescuing looted scroll" reflecting the disaster of the people of Gulang Dajing after the Wuwei earthquake. In terms of content, it can be divided into three categories, each of which can be found from Bianwen. The first is the content of Buddhism, such as the volume of Mulian III and the volume of Tang King's journey to hell. The second is the scroll of Chinese historical stories and realistic stories, such as Meng Jiangnu crying Great Wall Scroll originated from Meng Jiangnu Bianwen, Tian Xian Pei Baojuan originated from Dong Yong Bianwen, and realistic stories such as huanjin Dezi Baojuan and Huang Zhong Baojuan. The third is fable, such as mouse and parrot. There are two swallows Fu in Dunhuang manuscripts, the contents of which are roughly the same.

Baojuan is popular and beautiful. It can be sung in temple fairs, entertainment places and family courtyards, and is deeply loved by the people.

Before the beginning of the propaganda, people should wash their hands and gargle their mouth, then light the incense, kneel down to the West (or Buddha statue), and start the propaganda after meditation. The listener should be quiet and attentive, and should not make any noise or walk around. Only when the announcer has a rest can he relax a little.

Hexi Baojuan is not only an important means of traditional moral education for the people, but also contains a lot of historical, cultural and folk information, which is of great significance to the study of Dunhuang studies, the history of popular literature and the history of folk culture. In recent years, with the impact of modern culture, the number of people who publicize and listen to the scrolls has decreased sharply, and the Hexi scroll is on the verge of being lost, which needs to be protected.

Chinese PinYin : Bao Juan He Xi Bao Juan