Work songs of the minorities are classified by ways of working. For instance, work songs for people living in oasis such as "Weed-pulling Song of Gong and Drum" of Tujia ethnic group,"Flailing Song" and "Ox-Driving Songs" of Qiang ethnic group and in grain threshing; those for people living in coastal areas and forestry areas such as "Sailing to the South Sea" of Man ethnic group, "Going to the sea" of Gin ethnic group; those for people working in workshops such as "Rice Pounding" and "Spinning Wheel" of Korean ethnic group. Their music singing forms are to some extent different from work songs, and have stronger melodic tunes.
Shan'ge: Mountain Song
This kind of songs is widely popular in mountainous areas or in the fields, its music has such characters such as free rhythms, broad range, and exalt tune. For example, "Hua'er" is such a favorite song in northwest Chma provinces such as Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai; "Xinrianyou", "Climbing Song" and "Shan'qu are popular in Shaanxi and Shanxi Provinces; "Zhengjinghong" is popular in southernAnhui Province; Xingguo Shan'ge inJiangxi province; Hengyang Shan'ge inHunan Province;HakkaShan'ge inGuangdong Province.
The Shan'ge of the minorities is usually popular in plateaus, mountainous areas or prairies, such as "lalu" of Tibetan ethnic group, "changdiao" (aradun-urtu-yin-daguu) of Mongolia ethnic group, "feige" of Miao ethnic group. Its music is usually in the form of free measures with the characters of un-restrainedness, sonorousness, vehemence and melodiousness. "Chao'er" of Mongolia, a form of Mongolia changdiao, is played only on ceremonious occassions.
Tian'te: Field Songs
Field songs are folk songs with a long history, which are popular and sung among farmer who work in the rice-growing field in busy farming seasons m the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtse Riv-r. Their typical singing form is that a mastersinger sings it with the accompaniment of gongs, drums, suona and other instruments, and it is characterized by large structure, dozens of interlinked melodies, such as "Jiashan field song" ofZhejiang Province, "rice-seedling-transplanting work song" ofJiangsu Province, "tian shan'ge" ofShanghai. In addition, there are diverse names and types such as "transplanting gong and drum song", 'weed-pulling gong and drum song", "cart and water gong and drum", "fanqiang", "washan (digging mountains) drum song", "wadi (digging field) drum song", "jiao-ge gong and drum song", "hua haozi work song".
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