Geographical Resonance
A Narrative Review on the Geographical Influence in Northern and Southern Chinese Folk Songs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22006147 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yang Xiaobin (0009-0007-2498-8745, UCSI University, corresponding author), Cheong Ku Wing (0000-0002-7818-8424, UCSI University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | SAGE Open (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2158-2440 • E-ISSN: 2158-2440 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/21582440251398933 |
| OpenAlex | W4416534771 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
Folk songs, as a vital component of China’s intangible cultural heritage, have long reflected the country’s geographical and cultural diversity. Over the past decade, scholarship has increasingly examined how regional environments, languages, and social practices shape the formation and transformation of folk song traditions. This article presents a narrative review of 65 studies published between 2014 and 2024, drawing on both English and Chinese sources identified through Google Scholar and CNKI. The synthesis highlights three major trends. First, the enduring north–south binary continues to structure much research, but its explanatory power is limited in transition zones and hybrid repertoires. Second, micro-regional and ethnic-minority perspectives reveal the significance of linguistic prosody, ritual practice, labor rhythms, and migration histories, complicating environment-based explanations. Third, processes of heritagization, tourism, and state policy have increasingly reshaped folk songs, creating tensions between preservation, transformation, and commodification. The review argues that while geography remains a useful heuristic, explanatory frameworks must integrate environmental, linguistic, ritual, migratory, and institutional factors. By clarifying these dynamics, the article contributes to music geography and ethnomusicology, offering methodological directions for future research and practical insights for heritage preservation
Cultural geography · Explanatory power · Human geography · Narrative · Scholarship · Social geography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Diverse Musicological Studies · Music History and Culture
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Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Distribution Patterns of Traditional Opera Culture along the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal
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Common and distinct quantitative characteristics of Chinese and Western music in terms of modes, scales, degrees and melody variations
Miao Folk Music and the Marginal Modernism of Shen Congwen
Grasping Intangible Heritage and Reimagining Inner Mongolia
Rice and Rhyme
The Seven Themes of Music Geography
Literacy Transmission Guideline for Preserving “Xin Tian You” Folk Songs in Northern Shaanxi, China
Expressiveness in the Premodern Performance Style of Chinese Music
Music in Cultural Construction
Folk Songs of the Han Chinese
Folk Song Collecting in China - a Short Survey
Inheritors of the Yellow River
Reading between the Lines
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |