Old lady creates "clapper ballad" about 60 years of change in Huilongguan

A clapper ballad (kuaiban), entitled “60 years of change in Huilongguan,” created by a Huilongguan resident, recently spread throughout the neighborhood. The ballad talks about changes in people’s lives in Huilongguan over the past six decades from the viewpoint of an ordinary resident.

The writer Feng Junqing is a volunteer from the farming community of Beijiao. Many of her works including Sanjuban, clapper ballads and songs won prizes in contests in Changping District and Huilongguan Town. “Happiness on Beijiao’s Farms,” a song she wrote the lyrics for, composed by Song Huifen, won top place in Huilongguan’s first singing contest.

Feng, 68, has lived and worked in Huilongguan all her life and has never really left. She has profound memories about everything, including the way it has changed.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, and help Huilongguan residents retain 60 years of their community’s history, she said she had started the work in March. But the schedule has been delayed as she needs to take care of her sick husband who is bedridden. Fortunately her husband is also supporting her, urging her to finish the work sooner, so she finds a bit of time to reminisce with the old neighbors about stories from the past 60 years, further enriching her clapper ballad.

By July, the ballad, composed of more than 800 Chinese characters in 24 parts, was finally completed.

Feng said her younger brother in Shahe also likes clapper ballads. During this work, her brother provided her with much guidance and assistance. Most noticeably, the original version contained numerous third and fourth tones, which were cut to two after her brother’s modification. “This way, it reads much smoother than before.”

Feng recorded many experiences and turned them into rhythmic language in the form of a clapper ballad. Soon after liberation, they were living in mud huts. In 1960, a policy was introduced stating that companies should be incorporated in society and the State-owned Beijiao Farm, also called China-Vietnam Friendship Commune, was established. After the reform and opening-up, Huilongguan’s 40-plus enterprises reported good profits by attracting investment and capital. In the 1990s, the area started to build affordable housing. Over the past 10 years, most village residents moved into residential apartments, becoming “urban people” and lived the dream of “living in buildings with electric lights and telephones.”

Excerpts:

Huilongguan in early days of liberation,

People living in leaky mud huts looking forward to sunny days.

As there were no courtyard walls or fences,

Pigs, dogs, chickens and ducks ran around on the streets.

Every family worked on the farms,

Relying on the weather to bring the harvest.

Dust on mud roads filled the air,

And shoes were often mired on rainy days.

Feng recalled that during the early days of liberation, they all lived in mud huts, which always leaked on rainy days. Pigs and dogs ran around on the streets. People all worked on the farms, depending on the weather for food. In the 1950s, people "ate from the same big pot" and simply lounged away their time, unable to make money throughout the year.

Translated by LOTO