Means:

1. There are three most important themes in folk songs: distance, love, and ideals.

2. There are three most typical emotions for people who listen to folk songs: helplessness, loneliness, and hesitation.

Folk songs have a long history, so their authors are mostly unknown. Folk songs are rich in content, including religion, love, war, work, drinking, dancing and music, festivals, etc.

Folk songs express the feelings and customs of a nation, so each has its own unique scale and emotional style. For example, the exuberance of French folk songs, the enthusiasm of Italian folk songs, the simplicity of British folk songs, the sadness and indignation of Japanese folk songs, the wild and unrestrained Spanish folk songs, and the lingering pathos of Chinese folk songs all express strong national temperament and color.

Extended information

Chinese folk songs

Chinese folk songs are not a music theory definition, but more inclined to a sociological definition. It can be roughly considered that folk music is pop music, or commercial music. It is a musical work that is widely spread among the people and has entertainment and commercial properties as its main characteristics. It is different from musical works created for the purpose of pursuing elegant artistic experience and limited to groups with certain musical accomplishments.

The characteristics of folk songs determine its wide audience, and also allows many people to fully enjoy the wonderful experience brought by music without any knowledge of music theory, so it can be widely disseminated. This is also the advantage of folk music.