Nanyin (Nanguan Music)

Nanyin (also called Nanguan) is an ancient music tradition kept alive across Minnan, Taiwan and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Archaic and refined, it is hailed as a living fossil of Chinese music; it entered the first national ICH list in 2006, with Xiamen among the declaring localities. Its cradle is Quanzhou, which led the UNESCO Representative List inscription; this entry concerns only nanyin's living practice in Xiamen.

Nanyin is performed on vertical flute, two-string fiddle, pipa, sanxian and clappers, sung in Quanzhou-accented Minnan, and organized into three repertoires—'zhi,' 'pu' and 'qu'—with slow tempos and lingering resonance. Xiamen sustains professional ensembles and many amateur societies, some over a century old.

Preserving a wealth of ancient tunes and performance forms, nanyin is a precious survival for the study of early Chinese music, and a refined 'sound of home' that binds Minnan people to kin overseas.