Cheng Shi: The background color of the folk song is regret

Cheng Shi is the Chief Economist of ICBC International and a member of the Board of Directors of the China Chief Economist Forum

This article is a series of articles written by Dr. Cheng Shi on music and economics for China Foreign Exchange magazine

The folk song is slow, and the water has been flowing for eight years. I started writing this essay on folk songs and economics in China Foreign Exchange magazine in January 2016, every two months, and it has been eight years since then. The original intention of writing this series of articles is to perceive, think and record the social changes and fluctuations of people's sentiments in the process of economic transformation through the sensitive, thoughtful and interesting entry point of folk songs. Folk songs are the murmur of the times, the trend of the times is rushing forward, and Chinese folk songs have also moved from youth to maturity, from niche to popular, from rough to delicate. In the past eight years, the changes in the world, history and times have all unfolded in unexpected ways, and my appreciation and taste of Chinese folk songs have also continued to precipitate and evolve.

In the past eight years, I have listened to a lot of ballads and written a lot of ballads, and I feel more and more that every genre of music has a background, which is probably why they are distinguished from each other as genres. If the background color of rock is rebellion, the background color of popularity is youth, the background color of classical is solemn, the background color of blues is melancholy, and the background color of electronics is science fiction, then the background color of folk songs is regret. The most representative song is "Anhe Bridge", which is also a masterpiece that cannot be bypassed by listening to and writing Chinese folk songs, just like mentioning that American folk songs can't be bypassed "like a rolling stone".

"Anhe Bridge" is definitely a good and durable song, especially the gripping horse-head piano and drums, which pluck people's heartstrings and linger sounds. And the most famous comment about this ballad is: "As soon as the prelude to "Anhe Bridge" sounds, the dogs on the side of the road will have regrets." This feeling is very accurate, whether it is the lyrics, the melody and the meaning of the music, all the words that are difficult to say, the desire to say and the rest of the condensation into a sigh, people can't help but recall those irretrievable pasts, annihilated intangible emotions and missed opportunities, sometimes sad, sometimes leisurely.

The more I have heard the ballads, the more I can appreciate the background of regret. Listening to "Anhe Bridge", what I feel is the regret of "the son wants to raise but not treating"; listening to "The Southern Girl", I feel the regret of "the spring waves under the sad bridge are green, and it was once a shocking shadow"; listening to "Ideal Thirty Years", I feel the regret of "I want to buy osmanthus and carry wine, but I will not be like a teenager in the end"; when I listen to "A Life of Grass and Trees", I feel the regret that "I can't keep it in the world, and I can't keep it in the world"; and when I listen to "Poems for the Depression", I feel the regret that "this love can be recalled, but it was already lost at that time".

So, why is the background color of folk songs regretful? I think we still have to find the answer from the relationship between the rise of folk songs and the transformation of the times.

The background color of the folk song is regret, because it is easy to gain and easy to lose in the era of transition, and it is always sentimental to gain and lose. In the era of transition with endless structural changes, trend changes will amplify or shrink the success or failure of individuals with the same endowment, the same effort, and the same opportunity. We often don't have enough vision, courage and ability to change ourselves in a timely manner, so when the times change faces, we slowly learn to recognize new changes and adapt to new trends in the process of setbacks and losses. In the process of continuous running-in between individuals and the times, the ease of the past has become the reluctance of today, and it is inevitable that there is often the regret that "it was only ordinary at that time".

The background color of the ballad is regret, because the era of transition is full of desires and ideals, and it is difficult to let go of it naturally. The era of transition is complex, tangled, and contradictory. On the one hand, in the new macroeconomic world, opportunities are accelerating, success is favoring young people, and the digital economy and artificial intelligence are constantly creating exciting wealth myths; on the other hand, in the old structure of social precipitation, class solidification and interest barriers are constantly reinforcing themselves, and changing destiny through knowledge and hard work no longer seems to be as natural as before. This dualistic contradiction in the era of transition not only stimulates the generation of desires, but also inhibits the satisfaction of desires, which not only stimulates the transformation of ideals, but also weakens the realization of ideals, and cultivates social soil for the breeding of regrets.

The background color of the folk song is regret, because the era of transition is treacherous, the world is impermanent, and things and people are inevitably lost. The footnotes of the great changes unseen in a century are the high winds and waves, and even the stormy waves, whether it is the big environment or the small environment, drastic changes are taking place all the time. The fluctuating macro cycle is inevitably accompanied by volatile individual encounters, which stimulates uncertain micro emotions. We are all ordinary people, we can't see the general trend clearly, we can't see through the big picture, we will inevitably cling to small contradictions, get lost in small entanglements, and sometimes feel regretful.

The background color of the folk song is regret, in the final analysis, because the era of transformation has changed too much and changed too fast, and it is difficult for us to really keep up with the tortuous development and wave-like progress of the times every step. So, how can we be self-consistent? I think we can't change the times, only the times are changing us subtly. Therefore, in the era of transformation, we can first strive to do: leave regrets, and have no unwillingness. Life is unsatisfactory, nine times out of ten, if everything is perfect, but it lacks a sense of reality and heaviness. Regret is the result of missing out, not the reason for persistentness, many times, taking a step back, picking up and putting down, it takes wisdom and courage.

Then we can try: accept regrets and remember the past. Regret is a silent and indifferent emotion, which may ferment with time, or it may be forgotten with time, whether it becomes thicker or thinner, it will eventually be integrated into life and become an indispensable part of life. Accepting regret is actually a process of reconciling with the times and ourselves as we grow up. Accepting regrets means truly digesting those life experiences that are either successful or failing, truly understanding what can be done and what must not be done in the era of transformation, and sealing as many regrets as possible in the past.

In the end, we still have to look beyond regrets and look forward. Regret is the inevitability of life, but also the emotional specialty of the era of transformation, only beyond the personal constraints brought by regret, in order to accelerate the transformation of the macro world to better follow the trend, innovation and development. Of course, this requires a broad vision, a firm heart, a positive mindset and an optimistic spirit. And this is precisely the original intention of us to read, run, see the world, and listen to folk songs, and it is also the direction I try to learn and improve with readers in this essay series. It's a shame that it's hard to be truly ahead of the times, but it's not that much because I'm working hard with everyone.

Finally, I would like to give the last lyrics of "Anhe Bridge" to myself, who is 45 years old today: "I know that there are too many regrets in this world every day, so hello, goodbye." ”