Religious Music Traditions (Continued)
Christian Choirs in Miao Villages
Since missionary work in the 1930s, Western hymn singing has played an integral role in the village life of Xiaoshuijin, a Miao ethnic village located in Fumin county, Yunnan province. Young villagers prefer joining Christian choirs to attending college. They get paid for taking part in commercial performances and have much fun traveling outside the village to perform (personal communication from Zhang Weiquan, Dec 2017). Xiaoshuijin village has several choral groups: a female choir, male choir, elderly people's choir, and a children's choir. Among them, the female choir has attracted the most national attention, and has been invited to perform in various local and national TV programs and even to perform overseas.
There is a village church large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, and a decent-sized stage in front of a spacious square (Figure 16). The Christmas celebration has become the most important event in Xiaoshuijin village, and choral singing the most exciting part in this event. In the Christmas celebration in 2017, the villagers invited choirs from other Miao villages to perform together with them.
These choir performances in Xiaoshuijing share similarities with Western choral singing in their vocal style, harmonic progressions, and repertoire (Example 19: Performed by the choirs of Xiaoshuijin village. Courtesy of Qian Lijuan) without losing many Miao characteristics. First, most of these hymns are sung in Miao language (written Miao was also created by a missionary), the singers wear traditional Miao costumes, and finally, the associated dance groups perform traditional Miao dance movements. On some occasions, they also sing newly written secular pop song by Chinese composers, with only a trace of Western hymn singing retained.
Example 19: 'Christmas Choir Performance'
Hong Kong film stars Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan were classmates at the Beijing Opera School in Hong Kong.
