Folk camel guests

Minqin County is a county under the jurisdiction of Wuwei City, Gansu Province, located in the northeast of the Hexi Corridor and the lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin. Minqin has a long history, and during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, human beings lived and multiplied, creating a "manhole culture". In the twenty-ninth year of Ming Hongwu (1396), he set up the town of Fanwei. In the second year of Qing Yongzheng (1724), it was changed to Zhenfan County. In the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928), it was renamed Minqin with "simple style and mellow style, and the people are industrious".

Minqin is located at the heart of the Silk Road, surrounded by sand on three sides, with a special geographical location and a typical temperate desert climate, which is an ideal place for camels to live and reproduce. The people have a long history of serving camels.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the government encouraged camel breeding, especially in the early Qing Dynasty, the Minqin camel merchant Ma Hesheng operated a camel caravan, opened a tea house, and the business spread throughout the country, and was once awarded the title of "official and commercial Ma Hesheng" by Yongzheng. In 1907, the Qing government decreed that his descendant Ma Xiangting would be named a "senior doctor" by wailang, a protector of the country. The caravan flourished even more, having been sent by Dr. Sun Yat-sen to the Soviet Union for diplomatic activities and was cordially received by Lenin.

The camel pack held by the non-governmental organization held an annual camel race at the Suwu Temple, and its grandeur was unprecedented. The Minqin camel caravan went south and north, the camel road was in all directions, and most of the men in the territory followed the camel caravan to take goods, taking this as a profession and becoming camel passengers. In March 2011, Minqin Camel Passenger was identified as the third batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage projects in Gansu Province, which belonged to the category of folklore.

Camel guests refer to people who pull camels in the desert, which are called "camel households" or "camel handles" by the people. Camel customers make a living by herding camels and pulling camels for transportation. Camel transport is called "one camel", and camel transport with more than five camels is called "camel caravan". Traders who carry out commodities that carry out camel transport materials are called "camel merchants". Minqin's camel households, camel caravans, and camel merchants have a long history and have a long reputation in the northwest.

Formed during the Ming Dynasty, flourished during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and gradually decreased after the founding of New China. In its place, modern automobile transportation and train transportation have emerged, so that camel passengers, camel caravans, and camel transportation have become the products of a specific historical period. In the past, in a fairly long historical period, the people's camel households relied on camels and camel caravans, and camel transport was once brilliant, becoming a way to make money and a way to get rich, but more camels had hardships and pains.

The people's camels have rich experience and experience in herding and long-distance camel transport, as well as the technology of making camel products, and they also sing the trumpet of the driver. The vast majority of camels spin camel wool, using camel wool to weave long towels, sweaters, sweater pants, and wool socks. He can weave camel hair sheets, plant camel hair mattresses, and twist ropes with camel skin. Camels are all-rounders living in the Hanhai Desert, with a skillful mind.

In 2011 and 2015, Cao Zongrang and Zhang Yuansheng were identified by the former Gansu Provincial Department of Culture as the representative inheritors of the provincial intangible cultural heritage project Minqin Camel Guest. In May 2019, Cao Zongrang unfortunately passed away, and Zhang Yuansheng became the only provincial inheritor of Minqin Camel Guest.

Zhang Yuansheng was born in October 1952 to a poor peasant family in Jiayu Village, Xiqu Town, Qin County, Wuwei City. After attending primary school, the family economy could not support him to carry out a higher level of education, so he had to go home to farm. At the age of 18, he began to learn the camel guest craft with his father and the camel guest Cao Zongrang of Donghu Town, and later became obsessed with this industry, and under the words and deeds of his father and master and his own dedicated training, he mastered all the daily crafts of camel guests, and constantly improved his operation skills, becoming a rare camel guest in the region.

About author:Zhao Datai, Wuwei ren, graduated from Shaanxi Normal University with a master's degree in modern educational technology, committed to the study of intangible cultural heritage, and is currently working at the Liangzhou Cultural Research Institute in Wuwei City. He is the chief editor of the non-heritage monographs "Liangzhou Xianxiaozhi's "Twenty-four Filial Pieties" and "Liangzhou Xianxiao's "Thirty-six Records"", and published many papers.

Source: Liangzhou Cultural Studies