As more and more tourists make their way to the Hezhen settlement, items made of fish skin have turned out to be wildly popular souvenirs, and the ancient technique of making them has become better known to the outside world. To introduce it to more people, You Wenfeng opened a fish skin culture display room in her village, and volunteered to serve as a commentator for visitors, speaking in both mandarin Chinese and the Hezhen language. Her explanations are often interspersed with singing, which is an essential vehicle of Hezhen culture as the group doesn’t have a written language. The number of Hezhens who can speak their ethnic tongue is in sharp decline, and still less can sing their folk songs. Being one of the few, You Wenfeng feels obliged to save it from extinction.
You Wenfeng, now 60, is kept busy working to keep Hezhen’s folklore alive. At her fish skin clothing business You instructs her daughters-in-law and granddaughters in the craft. She also runs a program in the village teaching traditional Hezhen songs to local youth. Modern technology and gadgets facilitate this study: the students can record the lectures and play them repeatedly after class until they can sing the songs from memory.
As a member of the village troupe, You also performs these same songs with her fellow players, along with dances and showcases of fish skin clothes, for visitors. They understand that for an ethnic group of fewer than 5,000 people their cultural heritage is highly vulnerable to modernization. Hezhen influence is slowly but steadily fading from local dress, buildings and day to day life – the very elements that most strongly make up a person’s identity. Locals are determined in their desire to still stand as the Fish Skin Tribe as history turns from one page to another.
By Jiao Feng
Source: Chinatoday
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