Songs of the fields

Kai Yang Men is an annual celebration marking the arrival of spring.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

He can also sing the complete version of Apei Congpopo, an epic about their ancestors' migration to southern Yunnan from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau centuries ago.

Zhu's parents died when he was young. He was raised by his grandfather, who taught him the songs since he was 12.

Now, Zhu rarely performs in public due to his health. But, since 1973, he has been passing down the ancient heritage by teaching others.

Li Youliang, who lives in the same village, is one of Zhu's former students.

Like Zhu, Li started to learn the songs in his teens.

"I learned them sentence by sentence from Zhu," says the 54-year-old.

"I have never gone to school but the old songs taught me everything－the history of the Hani people, how to farm and how to be a good man."