Folk stories of Geng Village

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Geng Village Folktales

Applicant: Gaocheng City, Hebei Province

Item No.: 14

Project No.: I-14

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Hebei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Gaocheng City, Hebei Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang City

A brief introduction to Geng Village Folktales

Applicant: Gaocheng City, Hebei Province

Geng Village is under the jurisdiction of Chang'an Town, Gaocheng City, Hebei Province, 12 kilometers west of Gaocheng City. After the death of Geng zaichen, the adoptive father of Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, he was granted the title of king and buried here. To commemorate Geng zaichen, the temple fair of King Geng from the first day of April to the fourth day of April attracts the faithful men and women and merchants from all walks of life. In the temple fair, there are rich and colorful folk performances, such as singing opera, storytelling, Dan Jing dance, playing fan and drum. In the 1940s, Geng Village only had more than 400 people, but there were more than 100 shops and workshops. Therefore, Geng Village has the reputation of "small village, big collection" and "one Beijing, two Wei, three Geng villages". Geng Village people, who went out to do business, travel and serve as soldiers, brought back stories and legends from all over the world when they returned home. Over time, it has gradually become a commodity distribution center and a folk literature dissemination center, and accumulated rich folk culture. In particular, the tradition of telling stories and listening to stories among villagers is still very popular.

Since 1987, relevant departments have conducted 11 surveys on Geng Village's story inheritance. At present, there are more than 2300 storytellers in Geng Village, of which 67 have been recognized as "folk storytellers". In addition, there are some inheritance modes, such as story family, story husband and wife, story brother, story mother and son, story father and son.

Geng Village is named "story village" because of its rich story resources and concentrated narrators. The content of the stories inherited by the village involves sociology, ethics, history, religion, philosophy and literature, which has high academic value. Gengcun's stories show the aesthetic, values, scientific understanding, moral education and entertainment functions, which are of positive practical significance to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, the enrichment of people's cultural life, the improvement of people's quality and the construction of a harmonious society.

So far, more than 60 million words of Geng Village folk stories have been recorded and sorted out. Five internal scientific research volumes, Geng Village stories collection, have been compiled and published, and 10 special collections of storytellers and research works have been published, with a total of 9.55 million words. The phenomenon of Gengcun folktales has attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad. Japanese and other foreign scholars have made a special trip to Gengcun for investigation and held international academic seminars. In recent years, the existing storytellers are getting older, and the new generation is more and more indifferent to the story. Geng Village folk stories are facing the danger of passing down the generations, and are in urgent need of rescue and protection.

Chinese PinYin : Geng Cun Min Jian Gu Shi