5. The History and Study of Chinese Folklore
Chinese folklore possesses a long history, with its evolution being roughly divided into three stages: the prehistoric, ancient and modern times.
（1）Prehistoric Folklore
It refers to the custom established before the 21st century B. C. of Xia dynasty, namely the folklore of the primitive society.
Chinese culture is the native and systematic culture of its own cultivated in the vast soils in which the ancestors labor, live and breed. Archaeological findings show that from the apes to homo erectus, early homo sapiens, late homo sapiens there is no absence of link in Chinese human evolution sequence; and the cultural progressive thread is relatively complete from the paleolithic to the neolithic era.
The emergence of prehistoric folk custom accompanies the appearance of the Chinese. Originally, like other animals, humans live collectively outdoors by simple food collection and hunting. They eat raw and wear no clothes, fighting against nature with bare hands. Later, they learn to have the food cooked since their employment of stone and fire, a basic distinction from lower animals. Then, the introduction of agriculture and the invention of pottery marks the establishment of the elementary food structure lasting thousands of years. Beijing cavemen have been sewn with spicules to make fur clothing, and worn animal teeth and shells for decorations since then, which follows the custom of clothes-making with wild plant fiber and silks. The dwelling of the northern primitives develops from caves to semi caves and finally to permanent housing while the southerners' residence shifts from nest to stilt style architecture. Tools such as bows, arrows, vehicles and ships have been invented and widely used till the end of the primitive society. Gradually the folk custom of material production and consumption system takes shape, consisting of the dry land farming region centered the Yellow River; the rice farming area centered the Yangtze River and the fishing and hunting area mainly in northeast, northwest China and inner Mongolia.
The spirit culture of the primitives develops along with the progress of material culture, forming the corresponding folklore. The primitives begin to create myths and songs since the appearance of languages. The emergence of ancient folk art such as pottery paintings, images, sculptures, bone carvings, wood carvings and cliff paintings reflects the growth of the primitive aesthetic consciousness. Excavations of unearthed bone whistles and wooden drums etc, as well as the dancing images on ceramics and paintings represent the noisy scene. Calendars and folk festivals might have appeared since the agriculture and animal husbandry are both dependent on seasonal changes. The ideas and rituals of natural, totem, soul and ancestor worship are prevailing with the prosperity of primitive religions. The concept of soul has come into being with proofs that hematite found on cavemen's corpses which are buried with simple productive tools（stones）. The heads of the bodies found in many tombs face to the same direction, reflecting the wish to return to the shore of the world. Witchcraft is popular with further division of specialized flamen and wizards.
Primitive community starts to transit to the matriarchal clan which conducts exogamy. Women enjoy high status within the group with children raised by the mother. Bloodline calculation and property inheritance are also implemented maternally. Many female ancestors exist in myth, like Jianjing and Jiangyuan who give birth to children and raise them single-handedly. Ethnology material also provides living proof to the status of the matriarchal clan. For example, Naxi nationality, living gregariously now by the Lugu Lake in Yongning, Yunnan province, still maintains a residual of the matrilineal system. The matriarchal clan commune reaches it prime in about sixty-seven thousand years ago when some clans of the Yellow River and the Yangtze river basin turn into patriarchal clan commune one or twelve thousand years later. Females live with the husband tribes after marriage with children's blood confirmed to be the natural heirs of fathers' property. Women are gradually confined to housework and family care, even reduced to the tool of family reproduction.
The late primitive society sees the emergence of private ownership and the frequency of tribal wars. War and productivity（especially the flood control）expansion prompts the amplification of tribal alliances, ultimately leading to the birth of the first slavery system: Xia dynasty, a new era in Chinese history.
There is no state power imposed on clan members in prehistoric times, everything being conducted by established conventions. Therefore, the folk custom is the sole norm of primitive society, a distinct character of prehistoric folk-lore.
（2）Ancient Folklore
The word ancient refers to the times from Xia dynasty to the Opium War, which can be divided into two stages: the former is the history before Han dynasty, the formative phase of Han nationality（the Chinese main ethnic group）and Chinese ancient folk system while the latter witnesses the development and prosperity of Chinese feudal social folklore.
Chinese folklore is in its budding status in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty. A number of unearthed oracles of Shang reveal the intense influence of primitive custom concerning frequently adopted divination and a mass of funerary objects. The official protocols forms in Zhou dynasty forms, demonstrated from works such as Rites of the Zhou and the Book of Rites. Some folk customs, like the six stages of marriage is the main mode followed in feudal society.
The ages from the Spring and Autumn Period to Qin and Han dynasty is one of the greatest nationality blending periods in history. With the establishment of the feudal social system and the unified realm, Han ethnic group, the pillar of the Chinese, takes dominating shape during the assimilation with other tribes and nationalities. Shi Huang, the first emperor of Qin, attaches importance to the unity of the folk custom as well. For example, he unifies costumes with civilians wearing black shawls to symbolize common people. He also orders to implement simple funerary manner. The advance of Chinese feudal society reaches its peak in Western and Eastern Han dynasties which lasts approximately four hundred years, a period for the principal formation of Chinese folklore.
Chinese feudal folklore achieves highest prosperity till Sui and Tang dynasty, during which Han and other nationalities mix immensely due to long-lasting ethnic wars and large scale national movement. Minor nationalities like Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qiang, Man and Yue etc. all are greatly influenced by Han's culture and custom. Meanwhile, their folklore also spread to the Han people. In Tang dynasty, rulers initiatively introduce minority folklore and the combination of Tang music and Kuchean music enormously enriches Chinese folk music. The rise of Buddhism and Taoism has increasingly huge impact on the folk custom from Han to Tang dynasty. Beliefs such as karma, heaven and hell are greatly popular among people, with a large number of mystery novels and legends prevailing at that moment. After the Han dynasty, festival culture is gradually systematic because most of the traditional holidays observed nowadays like the Spring Festival, the tomb-sweeping day, dragon-boat festival, the double ninth festival have already found its way in people life from then on.
The festival custom is more complete till Song dynasty and folklore becomes increasingly diverse which has been portrayed in Dongjing Dream. Chinese folk witch crafts such as fortune-telling and Fengshui are also wide spread in Song dynasty. Even though the governors of Liao, Jin and Yuan are minorities, their folks are gradually assimilated by the Han people to observe Han folks. Ming and Qing dynasty see the recession of Chinese feudality，but the conventional folklore including holidays, recreations, beliefs and religions has generally fixed until then.Even though the decree of hair-wearing has been imposed on the Han people, it receives strong resistance. All in all, besides changes of a handful of folk customs, people inherit major folks of Han ethnic groups in Qing dynasty.
The ancient folklore possesses some notable features compared with prehistoric ones：
①The scale of nationality merging is unprecedentedly wide, leading to the continuous exchanges and assimilation of folklore；
②Despite the great changes, it always remains the elementary structure centered on Han nationality, reflecting the tenacious continuity of folk activities；
③Due to the emergence of state power, the ruling class itself also develops a set of official etiquette corresponding to the concept of folk custom, influencing and transforming mutually which contributes to the complexity of the interrelationship.
（3）Modern Folklore
It means the folklore passes on till now since the Opium War in 1840, during which Chinese politics, economy and class relations undergo radical changes under the stimulus of western civilization. China experiences historical events such as the 1911 Revolution, New-Democratic Revolution, Socialist Revolution and Construction in less than two hundred years, striding towards a modern and civilized nationality. Accordingly, the folklore transits significantly with some outdated ones like foot-binding, long gowns and mandarin jackets perishing. Meanwhile, some western folk custom are introduced into China, integrating with Chinese existing ones to meet the needs of new society. People continuously create some new folklore that suit the development of modern life.
In the modern history, every big revolution sparks oscillation of the traditional folk custom. Liang Qichao advocates“custom revolution”in the Hundred Day's Reform. The 1911 Revolution not only overthrows the Qing dynasty but also brings about the liberation of women's feet and the elimination of men's braids. The republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar, promoting newstyle weddings and funerals, changing robes to Chinese tunic suits and western suits. Civilian literature and free marriages are promoted with the introduction of folk science, and folk dialects, beliefs, arts start to gain concern in May Fourth Movement. During the revolutionary civil war, under the leadership of the communist party, new marriage law is issued and the folk recreational activities such as Yangko advances to a new stage. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the government does substantial work in transforming social traditions. Especially in recent years, due to the reform and opening-up policy, people's economic life has been greatly improved with their life and values transforming constantly, which results in great changes of traditional folk custom. On the one hand, western customs such as jeans, dance halls, karaoke, Santa Claus come into China successively; on the other hand, due to the stimulation of the economic and cultural needs, traditional activities revive and flourish to promote Chinese traditional culture. The Chinese folklore system takes on a new look, its own traditions being the principal and western ones being the supplements.
As to the study of folklore in China, The Book of Songs（Shi Jing）was the earliest known Chinese collection of poetry, comprising 160 folk songs as well as courtly songs and hymns. One tradition believes that Confucius himself collected these songs, while another claims that an emperor compiled them as a means to manipulate the mood of the people and the effectiveness of his rule.
It is believed that the followers of Confucius were encouraged to study the songs contained in Shi Jing, a mean helps to secure Shi Jing's place among the Five Classics. After Confucian ideas became further established in Chinese culture, Confucius' endorsement prompted many scholars to study the lyrics of Shi Jing and presented them as political allegories and commentaries.
With the commencement of the campaign to formally employ Vernacular Chinese as the education and literature language, Chinese folklore started to gain popularity as an area of study around the 1910s, attracting scholars to pay attention to the impacts that Vernacular Chinese folklore had had on classical literature since Vernacular Chinese was the language in which most folklore was produced. Hu Shi, the strong advocate of the adoption of Vernacular Chinese, stated that Chinese literature went through a renaissance when massive Chinese writers gained inspiration from folk traditions such as traditional tales and songs;and they are inclined to lose touch with the common people if they overlook these sources. A revival of the folklore study would undoubtedly bring in a new renaissance of Chinese literature.
Meanwhile, an increasing sense of national identity partially contributes to the regained interest in conventional folklore. The first issue of the“Folk-Song Weekly”, a publication issued by the Folk-Song Research Society, stated that“Based on the folksongs, on the real feeling of the nation, a kind of new national poetry may be produced. ”
Some folklore enthusiasts also believed it essential to comprehend the ideas, values and customs of the people in order to help better their condition and hoped to further social reforms with the help of the their work.
Since 1949, Chinese scholars have collected many folk songs and stories and they reinvented and reinterpreted these folk songs and stories with an attempt to emphasize such themes as the virtue of the working class and the evil of aristocracy. Stories that expressed praise for the emperor were frequently left out of the collections. Some folk tales and folk plays emphasize particular social morals.
For ages, Chinese folklore has always nourished Chinese writers and poets. For instance, folk songs, the form that were basically accompanied with dance and other styles of performing arts, provided inspiration for courtly poetry. Classical fiction was modeled after spoken traditions and began in the Han dynasty, while Mongol and Ming dramatic plays were influenced by folk plays.
Contemporary versions of Chinese folk stories can be globally found as well as in Chinese literature. Maxine Hong Kingston's Chinaman, Laurence Yep's and Walt Disney Pictures' Mulan are all traced into Chinese folklore traditions.