At two o'clock in the afternoon of February 1, the small square of Dawan Village, Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province was lively.
A temporary stage was set up in the square, and there were tables and chairs below, and most of the tables were placed with the table signs of the "filial piety table", and the old people wore Miao costumes and wore high Miao Pa to sit.
They were waiting for an unusual gala. The theme of this "village evening" was "filial piety and love for relatives", which was mainly prepared by local returning college students and returned youth.
Yu Hui, a first-year student majoring in broadcasting and hosting at Guizhou University, was invited to be the female host, and she invited her classmates who had participated in the art examination to be the male host.
Yang Binke, a senior student studying at the ** College of Sichuan University of Light Chemical Technology, braved the cold wind, wore a dark green short-sleeved evening dress, and sang "Inch Heart", "Better and Better", and "My Motherland and Me" in a loud soprano.
Long Yixing once served as the vice president of the Chunhui Service Club of Songtao County College Students, and Long Jieyong, the "chief director of the village evening", hoped that she would also make a show. Long Yijing discussed with a few friends who love to dance, chose the song "Wanjiang" as the background**, and spent two days arranging a classical dance.
On the day of the performance, the temperature was only four or five degrees Celsius, the sky was overcast, and the wind was even colder. But that doesn't stop people from being enthusiastic.
"Village Evening" lives up to its name and is full of "local flavor".
In the interaction with the audience, the two hosts did not go on stage, but stood beside the audience and announced the rules of interaction. Several volunteers in red vests followed behind the host, carrying a large carp in one hand – 20 large carp from the town that morning, each weighing five or six pounds, as an interactive prize.
Who would say 'Happy New Year' in Hmong? Why is the word "Fu" posted upside down? "Who can say a poem about filial piety? The children crowded around the two moderators, scrambling to answer questions. Yu Hui deliberately asked a few old people to ask questions, and the young people on the side translated the host's Mandarin into Miao, and then translated the old man's Miao into Mandarin - the big carp was delivered to the old man as he wished.
The last program was 4 singers singing "My Motherland and Me", Long Jieyong made a gesture of "spread out", and they walked off the stage, walked to the audience**, and sang with the audience.
This is the most special evening party that Yu Hui has ever hosted. She said that during the rehearsal, the interactive links and performance links were in accordance with the traditional evening party mode, and the host and actors stood on the stage in a decent manner. But everyone felt a little awkward, "too distant", so they discussed changing the interactive mode and chorus session.
Yu Hui remembers that when she hosted theatrical evenings in high school and college, the whole performance was always serious, orderly, and could not make mistakes. But this "village evening" was full of surprises.
Before the start of the "Village Evening", Long Jieyong was nervous. Due to the fear of rain, the date of the performance was not finalized until 3 days before the party. As soon as the time was confirmed, he hurriedly began to look for someone.
Long Jieyong is a senior at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and is also the president of Chunhui Service Club, a college student in Songtao County. After he finished high school in Songtao County and went to university in Jiangsu, he often felt that he did not know his hometown and his fellow villagers. Seeing that he is about to graduate from college, there may be fewer and fewer opportunities to go home in the future, and he hopes to do more for the elderly in his hometown now.
This "village evening" has also attracted the attention of the Tongren Municipal Party Committee of the Youth League, and it has been identified as the demonstration activity of "Chunhui Action, Filial Piety and Loving Relatives" in Tongren City in 2024.
"Chunhui Action" is a social welfare activity initiated by the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Youth League in 2004, aiming to promote Chinese civilization, give back to relatives in the homeland, give full play to the role of emotional ties of family, hometown and friendship, mobilize social forces, and promote the economic and social development of Guizhou.
In Songtao County, the members of Chunhui Service Club once helped fruit farmers sell 400,000 catties of yellow peaches in a summer vacation, with sales of more than 140 yuan.
Long Jieyong and Yang Zhengsen, secretary of the Songtao County Party Committee of the Tuan, finalized the themes of "filial piety and love for relatives", "family and country feelings" and "national culture", and the city and the local ** each supported thousands of yuan, and most of the money was spent on the stage construction of this activity with a budget of only 10,000 yuan.
In just one day, the program list was assembled. Many of the people who participated in this village evening were members of the Chunhui Service Club, "Chunhui messengers", or children who had received funding from the Chunhui Action.
Due to the rush of time, the "Village Evening" did not even have time for a formal rehearsal, and everyone came to familiarize themselves with the stage and practice moving, which was considered a rehearsal. It wasn't until the morning of the "Village Evening" that Yu Hui got his performance costume. This is a red Miao suit, and it happened to collide with the dancer. Long Jieyong looked for help everywhere, and finally borrowed a set of white embroidered seedling clothes, but the matching crown was not found.
This is how this "village evening" began. Some dancers had to rush to the next place to perform, so the order of the program was temporarily adjusted. A company wants to give edible oil, rice and other New Year's goods to the elderly, so it simply adds a donation link.
The stage is busy performing programs, and the stage is not idle. The old man sat at the table, eating melon seeds and peanuts while watching the performance. A bonfire was burning in the open space on the side, and a few villagers put the steamed glutinous rice into a stone mortar, and the young man picked up the wooden rice and made the glutinous rice. They were clearly not skilled enough, and from time to time the wooden scoop smashed into the stone mortar, causing a burst of laughter. Girls wearing Miao crowns and Miao costumes also came over curiously to make glutinous cakes.
At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the performance on the stage ended, but it was not completely over. A little girl of seven or eight years old volunteered to go on stage and did a modern dance, while another girl of five or six years old, who obviously couldn't dance, also jumped on the stage. The aunt of Songtao County University for the Aged wore a black dress and a red scarf, and walked another show.
Offstage, young people put together tables, put long wooden boards, spread plastic tablecloths, and old people sit on both sides - this is a common long table banquet for the Miao people. Dozens of meters away, several large iron pots were steaming. Large pieces of braised pork, stewed meat, pork blood soup, and freshly made fresh tofu are served in large pots and basins.
The campfire is still burning. For Yang Binke, who has lived in the county seat since he was a child, this "village evening" is a novel and meaningful experience. Yu Hui said with a smile: "When the flower drum is beaten, the bonfire is burning, and the flavor of the New Year is coming." ”
China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Li Yajuan.
*: China Youth Daily).