[Explanation] Geng Village, Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang City is called "the first village of Chinese stories" by the media. Starting in the 1980s, a group of folk tale census team members have taken 12 censuses for more than 30 years and put together a small village. Pushed to the world stage, telling Chinese folk tales to the world.
A few days ago, in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the "International Symposium on Chinese Gengcun Storytellers, Works and Folklore Phenomena", these census team members once again gathered in Gengcun.
The walls on both sides of the streets of Gengcun are filled with paintings of folk tales.
Seeing the arrival of old friends, many villagers greeted enthusiastically.
According to Yuan Xuejun, the person in charge of the Geng Village Folktales Census Team, since ancient times, Geng Village has been a small town with convenient transportation, a prosperous market, and gatherings of merchants from all over the world. Business and storytelling are the two ancient customs of Geng Village.
From 1987 to 2015, they successively conducted 12 large-scale surveys of folktales in Geng Village.
[Concurrent] Yuan Xuejun, President of Hebei Folk Culture Association
The purpose of the census is to find out the basics of the folktales of Geng Village, how many people can tell (story), what are the contents of the folktales of this village, which are in line with the times, which are not in line with the times, and so on.
[Explanation] According to Yuan Xuejun, the previous censuses of folk tales in Geng Village had very difficult conditions. In order to collect and sort out folk tales, the census team members walked the streets and even started work in the fields. It was common to work until one or two in the morning. child.
[Concurrent] Sun Mingzhen, member of the Gengcun Folktale Census Team
After we came, we lived in the village, in a house that was just built. In the house, we built a floor and spread some grass. There were so many fleas underneath, and mosquitoes were flying above the sky.
[Explanation] The folk tales of Gengcun are all-encompassing, ranging from the myths and folklore legends to the stories of modern life.
After 12 censuses, the stories of Geng Village originally only relied on the villagers’ word of mouth, were organized into "Geng Village Folk Tales Collection", "Geng Village Folk Culture Grand View", "Geng Village One Thousand and One Nights", and "Geng Village Folk Tales". More than 20 books such as "Selected".
[Concurrent] Yuan Xuejun, President of Hebei Folk Culture Association
A total of 67 large and medium-sized storytellers and 5 story families have been named successively. The total number of words in the story reaches more than 9 million words, which is nearly 10 million words.
[Explanation] In May 1991, the international academic seminar on Chinese Gengcun story families, works and folklore events was held in Shijiazhuang, and the Gengcun story began to spread to the world.
In 2006, the folk tales of Gengcun were selected as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection projects in China.
Since then, UNESCO, as well as experts, scholars and story delegations from the United States, Canada, France and other countries have come to investigate and exchange.
Through the stories of Gengcun, more and more foreign friends have learned about Chinese folk culture and have been deeply infected.
[Concurrent] Wang Fali, the inheritor of folk tales in Gengcun
They like to listen to the stories of Gengcun very much and feel that our stories are well told. Our stories are true, witty, promote positive energy, and persuade good to punish evil.
[Explanation] 76-year-old Yuan Xuejun said that more and more domestic and foreign experts and scholars are participating in the digging and sorting of folk tales in Geng Village, and they will continue to do this work.
[Concurrent] Yuan Xuejun, President of Hebei Folk Culture Association
Not only do we do this now, but also with the development of cultural tourism activities in Gengcun, we will continue to do the excavation, rescue and sorting out of Gengcun’s stories, and we will also discover some new narrators, new large and medium-sized storytellers, and These stories are fed back to Gengcun, every guest who comes to Gengcun, and let it (folk tales) continue to spread widely.
Ai Guangde and Li Qian report from Shijiazhuang, Hebei.
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]