Sangzhi Folk Songs

Sangzhi folk songs are the folk ballads of Sangzhi county, rooted in the mountain life of a region where Tujia, Bai and other peoples have long lived together. Passed down orally over generations, they are recognized as national-level intangible cultural heritage.

The songs range widely across labor, love, daily life and ritual. Their melodies are high and lilting in the manner of mountain folk song, and the singing is often improvised and woven into everyday life — sung in the fields, at festivals and during work.

As national-level ICH, Sangzhi folk songs are a living vessel of the feelings and history of the area's many peoples, recording a mountain way of life and aesthetic — a key example of western Hunan's folk-music tradition.

Around Sangzhi and Zhangjiajie you can still hear locals sing them at folk festivals, cultural performances and in village life, catching the authentic flavor of these mountain songs.