Like many of his fellow villagers, Dong Wenchang, a farmer from Huzhu County of Northwest China's Qinghai Province, likes to sing hua'er folk songs that are popular in this part of the world.

When Dong was 19, he met 17-year-old Lei Youhua at a hua'er festival, where people gather to sing this type of song.

Dong and Lei got to know each other through the question-and-answer singing that is typical of hua'er. After the festival Dong often cycled from his home in Qiazi Village to Wangjia Village to see Lei. After half a year they married.

Now aged 36 and 34, Dong and Lei still remember the piece they sang when they first met:

Dong: How were the aspen trees planted?

How did the sky-scraping willow trees grow?

How could one have been born so rare as you?

How did your mother and father raise you?

Lei: The aspen trees were planted by me.

The willow trees grew by themselves.

Your reputation shall be taken care of by me,

As I lay asleep in your warm arms.

Dong and Lei have two children. They still go to the Hua'er Festival every year to sing and have fun.

Dong Delin, a 62-year-old man from Datong County of Qinghai, is a well-known hua'er singer in his hometown. In his youth he could sing for several hours without repeating a single lyric, whether traditional or improvised. He could beat a team of four other singers in question-and-answer singing.

Singers like Dong Delin are very popular at hua'er festivals. But when he was young he could not find a woman who wanted to be with him because he comes from a very poor family. Out of sadness he once sang:

The white horse passes the moon bridge,

He is so tired.

It is the rich men that girls like,

Sinful are the farmers.

Dong Delin has created about 600 hua'er songs, though he did not even finish primary school. For him, singing hua'er is an essential part of life.

He has twice been married, and has been a herdsman, bricklayer and food vendor. Throughout his difficult life Dong Delin has never stopped singing hua'er, into which he puts his happiness and sadness, using unrestrained lyrics and beautiful melodies.

Love songs

Hua'er, which literally means flower, is said to have got its name from the image of a flower symbolizing one's beloved woman.

Hua'er is also called yequ, or wild tune. According to local customs, hua'er can only be sung in the wild, but not at home, since hua'er are mostly love songs that are thought to make family members or relatives embarrassed.

Popular in the adjoining areas of Gansu and Qinghai provinces and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, hua'er is sung among the people of the Han, Hui, Salar, Dongxiang, Tu, Baoan, Tibetan and Yugur ethnic groups.

Many of these ethnic groups have their own languages, but they all sing hua'er in the northwestern dialect of Chinese. For outsiders, hua'er is often hard to understand because of the local accent and the use of many empty words.

There are at least 60 set tunes in the hua'er repertoire, each of which has its own character, though the music is generally characterized by its wide range of prolonged tones and disjunctions.

A singer chooses a tune that is appropriate for the mood and theme that he or she wants to conjure up, and then fits in the words.

A typical hua'er lyric begins with the description of a metaphorical scene, which will then lead into the real theme. For example: "The soldiers in Lanzhou had a mutiny/All the four city gates are locked/My lover's heart changed/Her big eyes don't recognize me any more."

Though hua'er is performed in teahouses in many towns of northwestern China, the best occasion to hear it is at a hua'er festival (hua'er hui), which is usually held in the countryside during the sixth or seventh lunar month.

At this time, farmers in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia are mostly enjoying a rest before harvest in the eighth lunar month. Since the sites of festivals are usually beautiful landscapes, farmers like to take the opportunity to have some fun while singing.

The history of the festivals is hard to pin down, but according to ancient proverbs and poems, the gatherings started during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) or early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Merry festival

Danma Hua'er Festival is one of the 100 or so in northwestern China. It is held between the 11th and 15th days of the sixth lunar month in Danma Township of Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, Qinghai Province. What differentiates it from others is the dominance of participants of Tu minority people.

Every morning during the festival people from Danma and nearby villages gradually gather beside a river that runs through the town.

Usually arriving in groups, singers sit in circles. Tu women often have long plaits and striking hats decorated with a bunch of artificial flowers.

At first most are a little restrained, and little singing can be heard in the morning. People chat, eat some food and drink beer.

Perhaps because of the alcohol, more and more people begin to sing hua'er in the afternoon. Before long the place is a sea of sound, with tunes rising from every direction, forming a kind of symphony.

Some of the best singers circle the group and challenge others with their questions. After a contest the side that could not reply finds an excuse to finish the competition, such as deciding it is time to go home. Of course, everything must be expressed in song.

Li Yongmei, a 40-year-old woman, was prevented from going home by spectators because of her excellent voice and witty lyrics. When asked which village she was from, she sang that her home was 10 kilometres away, where there was no road, and she had to climb three hills to get there.

At last she sang that if people still did not let her go, she would have a heart attack. With that she bid farewell to the laughing audience and went home.

One after another, groups of people left when it got dark. Some singers continued to sing in the buses from Danma to nearby villages and towns. The questions and answers did not stop until the buses arrived at their destinations.

Besides Spring Festival, Hua'er Festival is the most important celebration for local people. Like a carnival, it is the happiest time of the year.

Dong Wenxiong, a 37-year-old farmer from the Donggou Township of Huzhu, said the festival was mainly an occasion for lovers to meet.

"Sometimes it is difficult to speak one's mind directly, so people use hua'er to express their feelings," he said.

Yin Wangang, 26, a migrant working at a decoration company in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, came to the hua'er festival to refresh himself.

Yin said he began to sing hua'er at the age of 15, and he wanted to become a good hua'er singer like his father when he was 18, but had to abandon his dream just to make ends meet.

"In Xining I listen to pop songs like those by Dao Lang and Chen Xing, but hua'er is my favourite," he said. "Singing hua'er can always relieve my worries."

Increasing popularity

While singers and audiences have a good time at the festivals, vendors also enjoy thriving business. The festivals are traditionally linked to temple fairs. Today's festivals are also a special occasion where farmers like to consume.

Ma Changmingjie, 42, used to be a very good singer, but she no longer joins the singing groups at the Danma Hua'er Festival as she has to look after her stand of bean-starch noodles.

Ma's family plants nine mu (about 0.6 hectares) of rape, which earns them 5,000 yuan (US$617) a year. During the five days of the festival Ma makes about 1,000 yuan (US$123) selling noodles, which is pretty good going.

At Danma Hua'er Festival, hundreds of stands like Ma's serve Tu, Hui and Han food to thousands of people. Clothes and other kinds of daily necessities are also on sale.

Though most visitors are from nearby villages, some come from the big cities to experience the unique folk festival.

"I had thought that the Hua'er Festival had degenerated greatly as the economy developed, but after observing five festivals in Gansu and Qinghai, I find that it is still a lively folk activity among the people of this area," said Ning Biaoxue, a freelancer from Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.

Though Ning has interviewed many famous hua'er singers who have released CDs or tapes, he said what impressed him most was the happy and light atmosphere of the festivals, which provided the hard-working farmers with a rare opportunity to enjoy life.

Yang Wenliang, a businessman from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, came to Qinghai's Hua'er Festival for the first time in 2002. He returned this year and met many old friends. He said he was attracted by hua'er because of its truthful expression and free form.

This is the reason millions of northwestern Chinese love hua'er.

As a traditional piece puts it: "Hua'er are words from the heart, which one can't help singing out. You can cut down my head with a sword, but my way of singing will not change as long as I'm alive."

(China Daily August 30, 2005)