Two years ago,the Poya folk song collection of the Zhuang people of Funing County was discovered by researchers.Two years later,the book Zhongguo Funing Poya Ge Shu(Sw Fwen Boyaq · The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China)was published.On July 28,2006,a group of experts,whose members include Huang Jianming,Pu Weihua,Lu Yan and Wang Mingfu visited Poya Village in Funing County to carry out fieldwork.After that,The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China was given its present title.Before the group of experts completed their fieldwork visit,the Poya folk songs collection didn’t even have a Chinese name,and she was an undiscovered pearl.Now that the experts know its value,this pearl has a chance to show itself.

From their discovery to their publication,the folk songs of Poya Village have received special and extended attention.County government authorities,experts and scholars,ordinary cultural workers,provincial and prefectural leaders have all attached great importance to the collection and the protection of the folk songs of Poya Village,and have devoted their time and energies to the work.It is oblidged to their tireless help and effort that this collection can be published.I am sorry to say that I cannot record the entire story of the project.But we will include a running account of the progress of the work.

There were two stages in the collection,classification and publication of this work.The first stage took place from March 2006 through September 2006.During this stage,the main work was to research and collect the material.The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China was compiled during the second stage,from September 2006 through March 2008.

The team were excited to discover the folk songs of Poya Village.However,they encountered several challenges.The first one was to determine what type of academic study the work required.The second challenge was to access the value of the material.The last challenge was to determine which kind of academic institution was best placed to identify the quality of the material.These challenges went beyond the specializations of the members of the team.On March 5,2006,Xiong Rongyuan,a local spokesman and state committee member in Wenshan,briefed on this project.First,Xiong requested that the Poya folk songs should be documented and preserved.Second,an investigation group should be established to be led by the county Communist Party committee publicity department.At the same time,the culture department and the cultural industry department should continue to pursue the investigation.In this way,firsthand information and further study would be made available.In mid-March,Dai Guanglu,Wang Yongkui and other leaders issued directives.Dai Guanglu,who serves in the provincial People’s Congress and is a former vice governor of Yunnan Province,visited Funing County to do cultural research.Wang Yongkui,who is part of the provincial standing committee of the Communist Party,and other officials also issued directives.Following Dai Guanglu’s lead,He Zhengting,vice chairman and general secretary of the provincial Zhuang Studies Association,came to Funing to provide specialized guidance on how to do the fieldwork.

In July 2006,Huang Jianming,director of Ancient Book Institute at the Chinese Central University of Nationalities visited Poya Village.After his onsite investigation,he reported his findings to leadership of that university.As a result,the Poya folk song project received great support from Wen Rihuan,the president of the Chinese Central University of Nationalities.The Chinese Center for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage at that university decided to make the Poya folk song collection project a“985 project”,a book series on ancient writings and writing systems of China’s minority ethnic groups.The Protection Center asked Funing County to collect and edit the transciptions of the Poya folk songs.In August 2006,a symposium on Chinese Zhuang Rice-based Cultures and Regional Economic Development was convened in Funing,Wenshan.At this symposium,the discovery of the Poya folk song collection was shared with experts such as Liang Tingwang and Zhai Qingfu,who offered direction on how to protect and preserve the folk songs.The Funing CPC committee set up a leading group responsible for the protection and research into the Poya folk songs collection.Meanwhile,the People’s Government of Funing County established a committee to be responsible for the editing and collecting of the songs.Yu Rong,the deputy secretary of the county and Zheng Deyi,the first deputy chief,acted as directors of the leading group.County committee member and publicity department head,Tan Jinhua,acted as vice director.The leading group were able to take full advantage of the human resources available.The county party committee publicity department led the project.Key members of county Zhuang Studies Assocation worked on collating the Poya folk songs collection.Liu Bingshan,deputy publicity director of Funing County and director of the office of cultural industries development,was nominated as chief editor.Huang Binhui,the county deputy publicity director,and Li Shengen,vice president of Funing County Literary and Art Union,were appointed as associate editors.In addition,the provincial Zhuang Studies Association designated Lu Baocheng,who is a cadre in the provincial ethnic affairs commission and vice executive secretary of provincial Zhuang Studies Association,to participate in the compilation.In order to ensure the professional nature of the compilation,in November 2006,Yu Rong,a vice secretary of the county Communist Party committee and director of the editorial board,Liu Bingshan and Li Shenggen brought the first draft of Zhongguo Funing Poya Ge Shu(Sw Fwen Boyaq · The Poya Folk Songs Collection)to Beijing.There,they consulted experts such as Liang Tingwang,Wen Rihuan,Huagn Jianming and others.Professor Liang Tingwang invited some Beijing-based Zhuang scholars such as Huang Fengxian,Tan Xiaohang,Li Jinfang and others to help and guide the project.These scholars decided to support the compilation of the Poya folk songs collection.In March 2007,the draft manuscript of the word-for-word interlinearized translation,the free translation,and the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA)transcription had been completed.The Communist Party Committee of Funing County and the People’s Government of Funing County convened an expert consultation meeting.After the consultative meeting,the Communist Party Committee of Wenshan Prefecture and the People’s Government of Wenshan Prefecture set up a leading group.In this group,Xiong Rongyuan,director of the publicity department acted as group leader.And Zhang Xiulan,vice prefect,acted as deputy group leader.Liu Qingfu,deputy director of the publicity department,acted as office director,coordinating collaboration with the prefecture culture department and the Zhuang Studies Association.In order to seek advice from a wide range of experts,Luo Jiaxiang and Wang Yi traveled to Kunming where they convened two consultative meetings.Various experts and relevant leaders attended these two meetings.Some govern leaders hosted this conference themselves,which were presided over by Dai Guanglu and Wang Yongkui.To summarize,all the relevant departments and experts put forward valuable opinions for the protection and collection of the Poya folk songs.These departments include the cultural industries development office,the provincial office of cultural systems reform,and the provincial culture office.In October 2007,the group responsible for the compilation again travelled to Beijing to attend the consultative conference.They submitted the draft translation to the Chinese Center for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Chinese Central University of Nationalities.Experts read the draft translation carefully and put forward some detailed suggestions.At the meeting,Huang Fengxian,deputy chief editor at the national-level Ethnic Publishing House(Nationalities Press),agreed to be the editor who would assume legal responsibility for the book.Huang agreed to amend the draft translation.After that,Professor Liang Tingwang made the final determination as to whether the work was ready for publication.Eventually,in March 2008,the compilation of Zhongguo Funing Poya Ge Shu(Sw Fwen Boyaq · The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China)was finished.

The list of contributors involved in the editing,translation and type-setting and layout of this book are as follows:

I.Field survey and data collection phase.Here are the people who took part in the survey: Liu Bingshan,Huang Binhui,Li Shenggen,Xu Liujun,Lu Jianhe,Li Ning,Nong Haifan,Pan Lijiang,Shenming,Li Caifen,Zhou Linjing,Liu Shencai,Nong Jiamao,Nong Zhigang,Cen Songjie,Hu Xinghan and others.Nong Fengmei,Nong Liying,Nong Jiaxin,Nong Jiaping are those who inherited the Poya songs and who made available the original lyrics,drawings and helped with the transcriptions.

II.Editing and Translation phase.Nong Jiamao was in charge of the initial translation of the songs and also transliterated the Zhuang texts using Chinese.The task of the wordfor-word literal translation was undertaken by Huang Binhui,Li Shengen,Ma Baoliang,Lu Yuhong,WeiRong,Liu Shengcai and so on.Lu Baocheng transcribed the Zhuang pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA)and also the transcription into the Zhuang Phonetic Alphabet(ZPA,the national Latin-script orthography for Zhuang).Liu Bingshan conducted the first revision.It was again reviewed by Liu Bingshan,Huang Binghui,Li Shengen,Zhang Bangxin,Zhon Jiahong and He Yongjing.Wei Ming,Ma Weining,Lu Jianhe,Liu Changxiang and Pan Lijiang contributed photography and artistic design.The musical notation of the songs was completed by Lu Chengquan and Luo Qifen.Liu Bingshan,Huang Binhui and Li Shengen were responsible for the footnoting for the entire book.The introduction and postscript were written by Liu Bingshan,who also prepared the content of the first appendix along with Nong Yingzhong.Lu Baocheng prepared the second appendix.

Deputy chief editor Huang Fengxian did the final revision and editing for the entire book.Professor Liang Tingwang,also oversaw the final editing and publication of the book.

During the editing and type-setting of the book,Huang Guiqiu,a professor at the Guangxi Normal University made two visits to Funing County to provide guidance.The introduction of this book adapts and quotes part of Professor Huang’s dissertation.Others who offered valuable opinions include the Tsinghua University Professor Zhao Liming,researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ National Research Institute,Nie Hongyin,executive director of the China National Rice Board,Liu Zhifeng and researchers Wei Xinlang,Hong Bo,and Tan Jianzheng.

The research and editing of this book benefitted from the support in personnel and material resources of The Chinese Central University of Nationalities,the Zhuang Studies Association of Yunnan Province,the Wenshan Prefecture Chinese Communist Party Committee,the People’s Government of Wenshan Prefecture,and Wenshan Prefecture Zhuang Studies and Development Association.

Over the past two years,we have been deeply moved,as the publication of The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China was the crystallization of everyone’s collective wisdom.Many people selflessly devoted themselves to the project.Now when the book is finally published,we wish to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to all those who made a contribution to The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China.

Editorial Committee of The Zhuang Folksongs of Poya Village Funing,China

March 2008