Uliger, which means "storytelling" in Chinese, is also known as Mongolian storytelling because it uses Mongolian rap and singing. It is a form of Mongolian folk art. Mongolian folks call Uliger who only tells stories without musical instrument accompaniment "Yabagan Uliger", also known as "Hurui Uliger"; It is called "Chaoren Uliger"; Uliger who raps with Sihu accompaniment is called "Huren Uliger". Chaoren Uliger is widely circulated in China's Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and other Mongolian settlements and Mongolia; Widely circulated among pastoral people.

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The Horqin Grassland of Inner Mongolia is the hometown of Uliger, and there is a huge stock of Huren Uliger. According to incomplete statistics, there are hundreds and thousands of traditional Uliger handed down in the Horqin area. Artists sing for several days and nights, and for dozens of days or even months. Since the Qing Dynasty, Huren and Uliger have been active in the art form of walking around the countryside and households alone, and singing alone. Princes and aristocrats also often invite Huerqi to their mansions to sing and sing, such as Darhan Palace, Tushiyetu Palace, Wangye Temple, Alu Horqin Palace, etc., often hold storytelling activities.

After the founding of New China, the social status and living conditions of Uliger artists have been improved. Training classes for folk artists are often held in various places, storytelling halls have been established in Sumu towns and towns where Mongolians are more concentrated, and ethnic folk art troupes have also been established in some banners. Uliger's art has been continuously developed and has become a cultural fashion on the grassland.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, the cause of national folk art has entered a new historical period. In addition to continuing to rap and sing among the people, many repertoires of Uliger have been disseminated and promoted on radio, television and stage. Inner Mongolia has held five consecutive national Uliger and Haolaibao competitions, and commemorative activities have been erected for Quyi masters Pajie and Mao Yihan. In 2005 and 2006, the first and second Uliger Art Festivals in Inner Mongolia were held in Keyouzhong Banner of Xing'an League and Zhalut Banner of Tongliao City respectively, which had a great impact.

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However, we should also see that the development of Uliger has also been challenged unprecedentedly. With the change of production and lifestyle in pastoral areas and the continuous emergence of new art forms, Uliger's audience and rappers are gradually decreasing, and Uliger is quietly withdrawing from people's lives. For example, in Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, the birthplace of Huren Wuliger, there were more than 300 Huerqi in its heyday, but only 2 of them are still singing. Zalut Banner in Tongliao City is the famous hometown of Uliger. The seven most important Hurqi in the history of Huren Uliger——Chao Yubang, Pajie, Mao Yihan, Zana, Saren Mandula, Dao Both Erji and Chojigawa were born here. Until the 1980s, there were still more than 300 entertainers singing Uliger's stories in the banner, but now there are less than 100 Huerqi left.

In recent years, the "Huren Uliger Competition" or "Haolaibao Competition" and Uliger Art Festival held in various places have played a positive role in the prosperity of Uliger. However, this kind of stage performance has strict requirements on the time limit. Generally, it is 20-30 minutes long, which cannot reflect the overall appearance of Huren Uliger's great tradition. The research report of the Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that the impact of the stage on the real oral tradition of Huren Uliger is fatal. Liger is a "100-meter runner", but he will ruthlessly snub, squeeze out and bury the traditional folk Uliger "marathon runner" who is truly loaded with precious long stories, and will eventually accelerate the decline of Huren Uliger's tradition process, bringing it to a more critical situation.

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Uliger has been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list this year. The protection convention of UNESCO points out that the various elements of intangible cultural heritage organically exist in a common community or group to form an intangible life chain, and it is constantly generating, inheriting and even innovating. In other words, intangible cultural heritage is not a past or dead thing, but a living thing that is continuously inherited, developed and innovated. Mr. Chen Qinjian, a well-known folklore expert, pointed out that in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, we should start from the lives of the people, adhere to the standpoints and methods of "life phase", "life field" and "life flow", and implement authenticity and integrity. The principle of preventing one-sided protective tearing of cultural fragments.

The so-called "life phase" is the appearance or style of life. The form of intangible cultural heritage has its uniqueness, but in terms of its essence, it does not exist in isolation, but a "living culture" that exists in life and does not separate from life, a cultural "life phase" or life pattern. Specifically for Uliger, its "life appearance" is its appearance and true color in life, and these are preserved in the inheritors and in the works handed down from generation to generation. Therefore, the first priority to protect Uliger is to protect the inheritors and works, while strengthening the cultivation of inheritors, and focusing on forming the awareness of inheritance among young people. In addition, it is necessary to conduct a general survey and record of the bibliography of Uliger's dictated repertoire so that it will not be lost. Zhalut Banner and the Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences jointly established the Uliger Research Base to conduct rescue excavations of Uliger's art, and recorded more than 500 hours of audio-visual works, which achieved good results.

The so-called adherence to the concept of "living field" means paying attention to the combination of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, taking into account the entire space of the living field of cultural heritage, and taking into account various interdependent and interactive relationships. For the protection of Uliger, we must not only pay attention to the dissemination on the stage, radio, television and other platforms, but also focus on our daily life, so as to maintain and restore Uliger's dissemination and development in the lives of the masses. , a tradition of innovation. In order to be able to go deep into the grassroots, Zalut Banner established the Uliger Art Troupe, which was equipped with transportation tools. The famous folk artist Rausel took his apprentices to go deep into the Sumu and Gacha to sing Uliger. Xing'an League Keyou Middle Banner resumed the Mongolian storytelling hall, and at the same time, professional actors from Ulan Muqi and the cultural center often went to the grassroots to rap.

The so-called restoration of "life flow" means that since intangible cultural heritage is a "living world" that continues from generation to generation, it is necessary to restore and maintain the basis of its existence--life flow. The protection of intangible cultural heritage can adopt a dynamic and life-oriented open protection method, which naturally overflows in the real life flow of residents. For Uliger's protection, the biggest problem is to maintain and restore the flow of life. Fundamentally speaking, the problem Uliger encounters now is not that there are fewer inheritors, but that there are fewer audiences, and the basis for Uliger's survival and development—the flow of life is less. In order to solve this problem, the Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences proposed and implemented the "Huren Uliger Rap Month" activity in Zhalut Banner, with the purpose of restoring the artist's rap to its cultural ecology and context, and in a truly lively state. In the singing environment, we track, record, observe and study the artists' rap and performance scenes, and at the same time provide a rare entertainment for the audience who loves Huren Uliger.

The form of "Huren Uliger Rap and Sing Month" is a group of representative artists convened by scientific researchers to set up a "Huren Uliger" performance field among ordinary farmers and herdsmen or among Mongolian audiences in the place where the Banner House is located. , Let the artist rap for a month or more. Researchers believe that this "rap month" idea derived from the institute's macroscopic research base idea is an effective way to rescue large-scale oral art in the context. It gives full play to the advantages of the base, the institute and The energy generated by local interaction has come to promote the rescue of folk oral traditions.