The Origin And Folk Cultural Connotation Of Five Sentences Song In Enshi

With a time-honored history and widespread popularity in southwest Hubei, Five Sentences Song in Enshi has been listed into the non-material cultural heritages of Hubei province. It's an important cultural resource shared by many ethnic groups and plays a significant part in the historical and cultural development of Enshi city. It has a rich Folk culture connotation.This paper is composed of five parts.The introduction,explains the definition, structural features, distribution and spreading of Five Sentences Songs in Enshi, based on which the current research status is also concluded. Besides, this part also gives the train of thought of this thesis. In Part I, the author confirms that Five Sentences Songs in Enshi can be dated back to the Ming Dynasty by going through historical documents, paying attention the patterns and tracing the origin of traditional Song of Five Sentences. By comparing ancient volumes of folk songs with contemporary ones gained in field visits, it is found that Enshi keeps the tradition of ancient Songs of Five Sentences with some new developments as well.Part II,discusses the geographical spreading path of Five Sentences Songs in Enshi. By analyzing the language and themes of the songs, the author conforms that the spreading of Songs of Five Sentences is from Anhui and Jiangxi to Hubei, mainly along the Yangtze River from east to west. Part III, I analyzes the cultural connotations of Five Sentences Songs in Enshi from the themes of the songs. The conclusion, focuses on the status of and difficulties in the inheritance of Five Sentences Songs in Enshi which is a regional cultural resource shared by many ethnic groups. Besides, suggestions are proposed about the protection,inheritance and exploitation of Five Sentences Songs in Enshi.