Saving old songs

Members of the Hani ethnic group in Puchun village in Yunnan province's Honghe county, Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, sing their polyphonic folk songs, which are listed as national intangible cultural heritage. Wang Kaihao / China Daily

The terraces are singing.

More than 100 members of the Hani ethnic group in Puchun village have turned this valley into a massive stage. Several women are busily transplanting rice seedlings. Perhaps the songs bouncing off every corner of the fields here are a hymn for not only nature, but the spirit of labor.

Chen Xialing, 28, stands on the ridge of fields and plucks her three-stringed instrument in celebration of this important moment.

"It is not a performance. It is a scene from daily life," Chen says.

This mountainous village is in Honghe county, in Yunnan province's Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture. An outsider coming to the village will have a white-knuckled drive, navigating the rough, zigzagging roads. This road is the only way to access the village by car, and few visitors dare to make the journey, leaving the place relatively unspoiled.

Well, almost.