Tongdao Dong Music Concert is held at the Sasuai Cultural Performance Center.
On November 8, the Tongdao Dong Music Concert themed “Culture and Arts Revitalize the Countryside, Intoxicating Dong Intangible Heritage”was held at the Sasuai Cultural Performance Center of the county. The concert was led by Pingri Village in Pingtan Township with participation of cultural troupes across the county, allowing village culture to truly take center stage.
As a typical Dong ethnic settlement, Pingri Village’s cultural fabric bears the mellow richness of time. The village’s “Water-Setting Festival”, carried on for more than two centuries, is a springtime celebration passed down through generations of Dong people. From the morning water-drawing and prayers to the afternoon reed-pipe ensemble and the communal Doye dance under the night sky, every segment adheres closely to ancient rites. These observances not only inscribe the Dong people’s reverent awe of nature but also embody their simple wishes for favorable weather and abundant harvests, becoming the most vivid footnotes in the village’s memory.
The concert cleverly extended the cultural lineage, breaking from conventional performance formats. Centered on the Dong “Water-Setting Festival” and with “blessing” as its emotional core, it carefully constructed the four chapters “Receiving Water and Praying for Blessings”, “Finding Love and Gaining Blessings”, “Festive Blessings”, and “Blessings Unfold”. The prologue, Mysterious Water Rhythms, presented three pieces: Legend of the Water-Setting, Celebrating the Blessed Water, and Sharing the Source of Blessing, showcasing the ancient Dong tradition of living in harmony with water through Dong vocal styles, dance, and water-offering songs. The production innovated while preserving the essence of intangible heritage: alongside the plaintive, time-honored tones of the Dong pipa, it featured contemporary rhythms such as “Neon Sweetheart”. The interactive chapter “Finding Love and Gaining Blessings” introduced an inventive twist by using the Dong custom of duck tossing in place of the traditional embroidered ball, enabling young people to bond through playful interaction and recreating the old romantic customs of the Dong, such as moonlit antiphonal singing and night-time walking-and-singing.
The concert broke the conventional boundaries of heritage presentation. With creative stage language it fused ancient folk customs and modern aesthetics, helping intangible-heritage items like the Water-Setting Festival step beyond village confines into broader arenas. Those vivid folk practices and distinctive spiritual qualities were distilled into cultural symbols unique to Tongdao through melody. They not only inject sustained cultural momentum into rural revitalization but also allow Dong intangible heritage to flourish anew in the soil of the new era.
(Translated by Yang Hong)