Miao poetry emphasizes phonology, including five-character style, seven-character style, and long and short sentences. The language is concise, harmonious, well-proportioned, easy to understand, can express rich thoughts and feelings, and has strong artistic appeal. It is the most important form of expression of Miao folk literature and has a wide range of uses. For example, close relatives and friends are welcomed and sent off, men and women talk about love, and even act as matchmakers, mediate disputes, formulate rural rules and regulations, educate children, narrate family trees and family rules, and sometimes express them in poetry. Poetry is also used to entertain people when working, and to relieve fatigue after working.
Creation Song: It is a very ancient mythological story song, which mainly describes the origin of heaven, earth, sun and moon, and the emergence of all things. Such songs include "Song of the Creation of Heaven and Earth", "Song of the Origin of All Things", etc.
Ancestral songs: mainly describe the birth of human beings, the origin and migration of nations, such as "Song of the Origin of Humanity", "The Flood", etc. The themes of this type of songs are aggressive and progressive, and to a certain extent they reflect the real history in a tortuous way, and are valuable for historical data research.
Marriage songs: reflect the evolution process of the Miao people from clan endogamy to clan exogamy, from matrilineal system to patriarchal system. They are rare materials for studying the history of marriage. Among the more famous ones are "Brother and Sister Marriage" that is widely circulated in various places, "Wedding Song", "Man and Woman Marrying", "Marriage Exchange Song" (a woman marries a man) in southeastern Guizhou, and "Meeting Son-in-law" in Zunyi area in northern Guizhou. , "Song of Farewell", etc.
Migration Song: It exists in large numbers among the Miao people. The Miao people in various places have their own migration history, so they all have their own migration songs. Among them, the famous ones include "Traveling Mountains and Crossing Rivers" in southeastern Guizhou, "Xiuxianxiuma" in Songtao and Tongren areas, "Yangluhua" in northwest Guizhou, and "Grogesang" in Guiyang area, etc. The migration songs of Songtao and Qiandongnan reflect the grand scene and express the fierce struggle between people and between people and nature. It is a heroic epic and is very valuable for studying the history of the Miao people.
Lige and Yilangci: reflect the ancient social organization of the Miao people, mainly describe various social ethics and behavioral norms, and persuade people to avoid evil and do good.
Production and labor songs: found everywhere. Among them, those from southeastern Guizhou are the most complete, such as "Embroidery Song", "Cotton Planting Song", "Spinning and Weaving Song", "Batik Song", "Wine Making Song", "Shipbuilding Song", etc. The themes are positive, and most of them are works that encourage people to work hard and create a better life.
Bitter Song: It is a poem describing class oppression and national oppression. Some accused the chieftains of oppression, some accused the landlords and bullies, and many complained angrily against the government.
Uprising and struggle songs: Also known as anti-songs, they mostly accuse the darkness of the old society and praise the people’s resistance struggle. For example, "Song of Zhang Xiumei" from southeastern Guizhou, "Liu Tiancheng" from southern Guizhou, and "Tao Xinchun" from northwest Guizhou are all very representative. This type of song has an exciting mood and is full of fighting spirit.
Love songs: These are songs sung by young men and women when they are in love. The wording is subtle, beautiful and lyrical. There are confession style, question and answer style, etc. Most of them are about supporting things and expressing emotions.
Due to the lack of writing, the written literature of the Miao people was mostly written in Chinese throughout history, and the amount is very small. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, more were found only in Hunan and eastern Sichuan. In recent years, some poems by Miao literati have been discovered in Guizhou. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Yingqian, Zhang Yingsong, Zhang Yide and Zhang Mande were born in Meijiang, Xiaolimi County, present-day Daozhen County. All four members of the same family had literary reputations, and one of them wrote "Yinyu Shanfang Poetry Manuscript". Poems and essays by Long Shaona, a Miao literati from the Qing Dynasty, were also discovered in Liangjiang Township, Jinping County. Among them, the four volumes of "Liangchuan Collection" published in 1878 collected the author's main poems and essays. The content mostly describes the customs and customs of Miao and Dong villages, with a strong local flavor. During the Republic of China, Liang Juwu, a famous Miao scholar in Leishan County, also wrote some poems. His political essays were full of the emotions of the oppressed ethnic groups, revealing the political powerlessness and economic hardship of ethnic minorities. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the care and cultivation of the party and the government, the Miao people began to have their own written literary creation team, and a group of Miao writers emerged. Many of their works have won awards at home, and some have been translated and introduced abroad and have been well received. In the research, collection, arrangement, translation and publication of folk literature, we also have a group of talents of our own and have made many achievements.
Music
Miao music includes folk songs, Lusheng tunes, suona tunes and Xiaoqin tunes, among which folk songs and Lusheng tunes are the most common.
Historical songs: mostly sung by middle-aged and elderly people, with a recitation form, often with one part sung and one part spoken.
The lyrics are also very long, ranging from dozens to hundreds of lines to thousands or more. Such as "Song of the Creation of the World", "Song of the Migration of Ancestors", "Song of the Origin of Marriage", "Song of Reasons" and so on. Among the historical songs of Southeast Guizhou, they are the most complete and representative, with rich tunes, clear beats, and vigorous vigor.
Love song: It is a type of folk song, sung by young men and women. There are many tunes, the melody is soft and beautiful, the tune is lyrical, and they are usually sung in a low voice. In some places, such as the Miao love songs of Liuzhi and Qinglong, they also have the characteristics of high-pitched and bold music.
Fei Ge: Named for its high-pitched singing voice and loud tone. It is usually a duet sung by young men and women during social interactions. Some of them sing impromptu solos or choruses after work to express their happy mood. Even if the listener is hundreds of meters away, he can still hear the lyrics clearly. This type of song is most famous in southeastern Guizhou.
Funeral song: It is a kind of mourning song for the normal death of the elderly. The melody is sad and the lyrics are desolate. When singers sing in sorrow, they often burst into tears, and listeners often burst into tears. There are Miao ethnic groups in southeastern Guizhou, central and southern Guizhou, northwest Guizhou, and northern Guizhou. The Liupanshui Miao people's mourning songs are even more famous.
Most of the Miao music tunes inherit traditional singing methods. The main achievements of famous singers are not the updating of tunes, but the creation, modification and improvement of lyrics, so there are very few changes in tunes. There are famous singers everywhere. The late Tang Dehai, a Miao singer from Leishan County in southeastern Guizhou, was one of the best. He has mastered the singing methods of traditional Miao folk songs and folk songs skillfully, and can sing several folk song tunes. He composed thousands of lyrics, including more than 1,300 new songs of Miao and Han Dynasties alone.