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159idea of how rich (and how unknown to western readers) these polyphonic traditions canbe.Let us listen on this matter to one of China’s leading ethnomusicologists, MaoJizeng, from the Central Institute for Nationalities from Beijing: “Although some foreignscholars believe that China has only monophonic folk song, in fact more than twentyminority peoples in China have polyphonic songs. [Another Chinese scholar, Qiaestimates a more precise number – 25 minorities, See later. J.J.] Some folk singers have asaying that indicates a deep-seated tradition of polyphony: ‘A lamp has two wicks,because if there’s only one the light isn’t bright enough.’ Polyphonic songs can bedivided broadly into three groups: (1) part singing, found among the Zhuang, Yao, andMiao; (2) songs in which a continuous bass line with a fixed melody is combined with themain melody, found among the Dong and Mulao; (3) folk songs in canon or round form,such as the songs of the She. Looked at as a whole, the forms of the various musical linesare basically integrated, and their melodic movements, rhythms, supporting notes, andfinals are the same … The frequent appearance and prominent use of major seconds andthe special progression of major seconds resolving to unisons are importantcharacteristics of some polyphonic folk song” (Jizeng, 2002:449).A very detailed and informative special section on multi-part music amongChinese minorities has been written by Shen Qia, another leading Chineseethnomusicologist from the China Conservatory of Music, Beijing, for the GarlandEncyclopedia of World Music. Here is most of the text of this very important section forour topic: “As far as we know at present, apart from the Han, twenty-five minorities havemulti-part music. These include the Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Maonan, Mulan, Dai and Wa ofthe Yue-Pu system; the Miao, Yao, and She of the Miao-Yao system; and the Qiang, Yi,Hani, Lisu, Naxi, Bai, Lahu, Iinuo, Tujia, and Jingpo of the Di-Quang system. Eightypercent of them are distributed within Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan regions; the othersare found in the Aba district of Sichuan, in southwest Hubei, western Hunan, and theNingde region of northeast Fujian. Following are some important forms of multi-partmusic.“Galao. The dong form galao ‘ancient and solemn suite’ is sung in a southernDong dialect and flourishes in the countries of Liping, Congjiang, Rongjiang, andSanjiang in the southeast Guizhou.“Wennai. This is a generic name given by the Buyi to their multi-part folk songs.The Buyi wennai are often drinking songs for wedding celebrations. There are also somewennai called “double songs”. Wennai are mainly found in Libo, Sandu, and Dushan insouth Guizhou.“Huan, bi, xi, and liao. These are all names given to shan’ge folk songs indifferent Zhuang areas. These localized terms cover many different melody types, ofwhich multi-part songs are only one:“• Huan are found along the You, Hongshui, and Liu rivers in west and centralGuangxi. They include many two-voice forms. Gumeihuan, named after Gumeitun, itsplace of origin, is now current in the countries of Tianyang, Debao, and Bose in westernGuangxi. Huanleng is found in Shanglin in central Guangxi. Huanliu is named after thevocables used, and is found in Pingguo Country in west-central Guangxi. Huanya ‘songof the Buyayi’ is so named because of local people, the Buyayi branch of the Zhuang, callthemselves the Ya; this last type of song is current in Tian’e, Guangxi. In the three-voice