I first arrived in China at the tender age of 19. I didn't drink at that time, but I was immediately confronted with (something resembling) the banquet culture for which China is (was recently) famous. I quickly learned that here people are expected to sing at these banquets. People are also expected to drink. The two were very much connected in my mind. When I arrived in Qinghai in 2009 for my first long-term stay in the region, I learned that this idea was in no way limited to a single ethnic group. If anything, it was more pronounced in Western China. As I was, by then, a drinker, the combination of liquor and music became indelibly linked in my mind as both culturally appropriate and incredibly enjoyable.
In the last few years, I have noticed a general decline in both aspects of this culture. It has become more socially acceptable to refuse liquor at a party, and to refuse to sing. There may be separate and unconnected specific causes for both of these. Regarding the former, it's possible that extensive secular and religious recognition of the potential negative (physical and social) effects of alcohol consumption have begun to affect local drinking culture. The professionalization of music, meanwhile, might have led to a decreased emphasis on the individual, non-professional . The two of these are also, culturally very connected. In a conversation with a friend today lamenting the downfall of singing across the high Plateau (and at parties more specifically), he told me of a traditional folksong lyric that suggests a causal relationship between first the consumption of liquor and the singing of songs: མདོ་དབུས་གཙང་ཡུལ་ལ་ཆོས་ཞིག་དར།། ཆོས་མ་དར་གོང་བ་དུང་ཞིག་དར།། དུང་དཀར་པོ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྣ་འདྲེན་རེད།། སྨད་ཨ་མདོ་ཡུལ་ལ་གླུ་ཞིག་དར།། གླུ་མ་དར་གོང་བ་ཆང་ཞིག་དར།། ཆང་བདུད་རྩི་གླུ་གི་སྣ་འདྲེན་རེད།། In the land of Dbus gtsang the dharma spread Before Dharma could spread, conch shells spread The white conch is the dharma's guide. In the land of A mdo singing spread Before Singing could spread, liquor spread. Ambrosial liquor is singing's guide. That's all for now.,,
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About TimAs you can see elsewhere on this webpage, I conduct research on ethnic minorities in western China. This blog offers semi-academic musings on the minutiae of daily life out here--the sort of information otherwise destined for footnotes. Categories |