Shifan music in Fuzhou Chating originated from Chating Street in Taijiang District, Fuzhou. Located in the north of Taijiang District, it is a famous handicraft street in Fuzhou. According to Zheng Luoying's poem "Zhuzhici on the Evening of Rongcheng" in the poetry anthology "A Copy of Poems on Shame and Virtual Zhai" in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, it was recorded that "the night in the Minshan Temple is crowded, and the moon outside the Minshan Temple is the door, and the teeth are smashed, and the children's field is more than ten times." These poems are enough to reflect the lively and joyful occasion of Shifan music in Fuzhou at that time. It is also recorded that the music of Fuzhou Shifan was very large and popular in Fuzhou during the reign of Qing Qianlong.
As for the origin and evolution of Shifan music in Fuzhou, a long time ago, people in Fuzhou were popular with dragon lanterns. Later, this percussion music for accompaniment gradually differentiated and became a solo performance. When playing, the musical instruments used are wolf strings, gongs and cymbals. Knock it on the streets at the Lantern Festival, when you meet the gods, when you are happy at weddings, funerals and birthdays. When the decoration ceremony was still monotonous and unsatisfied, we considered adding orchestral instruments, including flutes, fiddles and coconut palms, and at the same time, we added drums and gongs. In order to balance the volume, each orchestral instrument uses double numbers, that is, double flutes. Double pipe and double beard. At this time, there are ten kinds of musical instruments used, and the scale of the band has basically taken shape.
The birthplace of Shifan music in Fuzhou is the Tea Pavilion. Obviously, it first became popular in cities, and gradually spread to surrounding rural areas and five districts and eight counties in Fuzhou. It also spread to Ningde, Jianyang, Nanping, Gutian, Fuan, Zherong and Xiapu. Shifan Music, with its unique charm, has been widely spread among the people for nearly 3 years and is deeply loved by the broad masses of the people. The unique musical instruments it uses have played an important role. There are ten kinds of traditional musical instruments, such as flute, fiddle pipe, coconut palm, cloud gong, wolf string, big and small gong, big and small cymbals and clear drums. With the continuous development and evolution of Shifan music, Sheng, Muyu and other musical instruments were added. The musical instruments of Shifan Music are very old and should be living fossils of musical instruments. As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a record of the wolf string and teasing the tube in Le Shu written by Chen Liang, a musician from Fujian and Qing Dynasties in our province. The playing forms of Shifan music are divided into sitting and walking, and their playing arrangement is very particular. It is mainly used in folk activities such as welcoming the gods, people's weddings and funerals, and family banquets. Most of the tunes of Shifan Music are based on the relationship between man and the natural society, reflecting a certain artistic conception, and some also show ancient legends and stories.
The value of carrying forward and inheriting the Shifan music in Fuzhou Tea Pavilion has gone far beyond the scope of musicology. It is an invaluable treasure for exploring and preserving many disciplines of the Chinese nation, such as ethnology, folklore, cultural comparative studies, cultural communication, ethnodemography and history.