On October 22, the 2026 "Borderland Ten Thousand Miles Journey" creative exploration event (Yunnan section) was launched in Kunming, guided by the Art Bureau of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Publicity Bureau of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, and jointly organized by the Domestic Liaison Department of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Creative Liaison Department of the China Writers Association, along with the Chinese Musicians Association, the Chinese Artists Association, the Chinese Dancers Association, and the Chinese Photographers Association.
All members of the music and dance group arrived in Lijiang that evening to carry out special research and exploration. Lijiang is located in northwestern Yunnan, a place where multiple ethnic groups live together and blend, and is rich in ethnic and folk music and dance resources.
The artists visited ancient villages, ancient strongholds, museums and cultural venues, and intangible cultural heritage training centers, deeply exploring the cultural roots of Lijiang's traditional music and dance, experiencing up close the vivid practice of borderland ethnic cultural inheritance and development, and gathering fresh ethnic cultural materials for music and dance creation.
On October 23, the exploration group successively visited Yuhu Village in Baisha Town, Yulong County, and the Lijiang Ancient City Museum (Mu Mansion), exploring from the two dimensions of traditional village and historical government office the important cultural spaces that nurtured Lijiang's traditional song and dance culture.
Many folk tunes and festival dance forms in Yuhu Village are rooted in the production, daily life, and folk rituals passed down through generations. In recent years, the village has developed its collective economy, pursued the path of integrating agriculture, culture, and tourism, done a good job in living protection of the ancient village and industrial transformation, and achieved a transformation from a poverty-stricken village to a beautiful and harmonious countryside. The stories of the people's changing lives and the renewal of their homeland have become vivid material for creative works on rural revitalization.
The Mu Mansion was the office of the Mu clan chieftains during the Ming Dynasty and an important site for cultural exchange and mutual learning between the borderland and the Central Plains. The classics, calligraphy and paintings, plaques, and architectural remains in the museum testify to the historical trajectory of Naxi culture absorbing Central Plains civilization and the exchanges and integration among various ethnic groups.
The artists stopped to observe and trace history, perceiving the cultural heritage of multi-ethnic coexistence and integration, and mining narrative resources of cultural interweaving and coexistence, accumulating intellectual nourishment for music and dance creation that showcases the historical connotation of the Chinese national community.
Afterward, the group came to the Tiandi Courtyard in Lijiang Ancient City to watch a Naxi folk song and dance performance brought by folk artists. Folk songs "Naxi Welcome Song," "O Me Da," "A Li Li," "O Me Le," and "Marriage Tune," the Dongjing music "Shan Po Yang," as well as the Naxi dances "Dongba Dance" and "Leba Dance," and the collective song and dance "Re Mei Cuo" were performed in sequence.
The melodious singing and ancient dance steps carry the unique folk emotions and cultural memories of the Naxi people, fully displaying the simplicity and vitality of native folk music and dance. The exploring artists observed quietly and savored carefully, experiencing up close the rhythmic characteristics and cultural connotations of Naxi song and dance, accumulating fresh material for literary and artistic creation.
That evening, the group went to the Lijiang Xuan Ke Naxi Ancient Music Museum to watch a special performance. On-site staff carefully explained the instruments, scores, video materials, and other treasures in the museum, systematically introducing the inheritance lineage of Naxi ancient music.
The performances on site were all traditional tunes handed down from ancient times, and "Ba Gua," "Lang Tao Sha," "Yi Jiang Feng," "Bu Bu Jiao," and "Ji Xiang" were played one after another. The ancient silk and bamboo tones were distant and lingering, and the ancient charm of the tunes crossed time and space, allowing the exploring artists to truly experience the profound historical accumulation of this ancient musical genre and to excavate a rich traditional musical root for music creation.
On the morning of October 24, the group arrived at Dadong Township in the ancient city district, known as the "Hometown of Re Mei Cuo." With green mountains layered in emerald and forests as the backdrop, the artists watched local traditional song and dance performances in the open field.
Among them, the "Re Mei Cuo" performed by 28 artists together was deeply moving. The multi-part form of male and female chorus, accompanied by simple and natural dance steps, the high and bright throat vibrato of the female voices, and the majestic and rugged "Wo Re Re" refrain of the male voices fully displayed the unique appeal of original ecological song and dance, deeply moving every artist present.
Wen Zhanli, associate professor of the Composition Department of the China Conservatory of Music, after watching the performance, was reminded of the ancient music and dance "Ta Yao Niang" from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. He said: "The two are extremely similar in style and form. Seeing such an art form alive and inherited on the borderland makes one joyfully feel that the music and dance recorded in historical books are still alive."
He Ting, associate professor of the School of Music and Dance at Capital Normal University, said with emotion: "Their performance with heaven and earth as the stage not only shocked me, but also let me see the soul of dance."
On the afternoon of the 24th, the group entered the Baisha Xiyue Training Center to watch performances including the Dongjing music "Ba Gua," the Baisha Xiyue prelude "Du," and the tune "Yi Feng Shu," and also experienced the unique timbre of instruments such as the lead huqin.
Afterward, the artists had an immersive experience making wedding cakes and learning to write Dongba script, feeling the unique charm of Naxi folk culture through hands-on practice. Young composer Liu Yuxiang said with deep feeling: "Creative material is not only folk songs, dances, and music; folk customs such as Dongba script and wedding cake making can also become creative material. Creation should not focus only on what is seen and heard; all kinds of sensory experiences that are touched and smelled can also be transformed into artistic expression."
Shan Chong, chairman of the Chinese Dancers Association, said: "We must step into the soil and go deep into the fields. Only by truly taking root among the people can we find the roots and nourishment of creation."
"The rich music and dance culture of the borderland has important theoretical and practical significance for the construction of China's music and dance theoretical system, and even the construction of art theory systems. From the creative level, exploration should not remain merely at the surface form; it is more important to deeply understand the artistic thinking and ideas of inheritors, and strive to create artistic works with ideas and style," said Li Hongfeng, director of the Music Research Institute of the Chinese National Academy of Arts.
During the Lijiang stop of the exploration, the artists walked across the borderland and traced the roots of ethnic culture. Everyone unanimously expressed that they should persist in taking root among the people, learning from the people, deeply excavating the rich, profound, and colorful ethnic cultural resources, promoting the transformation of excellent ethnic cultural resources into high-quality literary and artistic works, and telling with heart and emotion the moving stories of exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups.
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