Inheritance and Protection of Korean Chinese Agronomic Music and Dance

Korean traditional farmers’ music (nongak), which originated in the Korean peninsula, entered the Three Provinces of northeast China in stages, with various waves of Korean immigrants. It established itself in China in the mid- and late 1930s, with the construction of the Korean immigrants’ collective villages. Although nongak drew on folk music traditions from all around the Korean peninsula, it lacked distinctive regional features. This can be attributed to the blended nature of the Korean immigrant communities.In August 1951, with the creation of a farmers’ dance (nongakmu) by Zhao De-Xian, Korean-Chinese folk music began to diverge from the nongak of the Korean peninsula. Reflecting the social system and the spirit of the age, nongakmu quickly spread through the Yanbian area. It was disseminated through the administrative line from Cultural Center to rural clubs and finally to amateur troupes. Concurrently, through cultural institutions like Yanbian art school, Yanbian Dance Company, Yanbian Public Arts and Culture Center, nongakmu spread widely around the Northeast area as well as Yanbian. Traditional Korean nong-ak was gradually replaced by Yanbian nongakmu through the dissemination of standardized processes. Through the Cultural Revolution, percussion disappeared from nongak. Even the kkwaenggwari, a small flat brass gong, fell out of use. The nongakmu movement maintained its creativity, through the Cultural Revolution and reform, and a new genre of dance performance emerged, called ‘Gwangjang nongakmu’. ‘Cheonin nongakmu’, another, was created in the 21st century. With the introduction of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy in 2005, nongakmu was formally recognized as great art, becoming a symbol of the ethnic Korean community in China. At the same time, it was given a new mission of returning to tradition.Some scholars have argued the need to preserve traditions at the level of nongak rather than nongakmu. They suggest that the latter, focusing on the Sangmo dance, can ignore ethnic rhythm and improvisation. This does not mean, however, that the whole of the Chinese Korean nongak tradition was absorbed by nongakmu. As the recent rise of Antu Nongak demonstrates, traditional nongak has not yet disappeared completely in China.