Fighting extinction with folk songs

Other than school duties, she also offers three teaching sessions per week at a She culture museum in Ningde, with some students of Han nationality also attending.

"I do not mind which nationality they are from. As long as they show their motivation and interest, I can teach on and on until they grasp it," she said.

She noted that confidence is the key in the learning process.

"It is like the voice of nature," she said, adding that the songs must be sung in a way to reflect the ancient She people's hillside living and farming lives.

Lei has so far passed on her songs to 560 people across the nation, all of whom are young people.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of She parents and grandparents have realized the importance of passing down the tongue to the younger generation.

In Guoyang village of Ningde, Zhong Shihe, 70, has been teaching his 11-year-old granddaughter the language and songs.

"Her father said the songs are no longer of any importance, but I think they are the hereditary treasures of our ethnic group. There comes one kind of emotion from each song," he said, adding that learning to sing the songs used to be a must for each individual in the group.

He added that he would bring several friends with him to visit fellow She people in other areas to perform duets.

However, he said that the fact that his granddaughter only spoke Mandarin in her school and with her parents means he is the only one to teach her the songs.

"Very few young children are learning the language now, which is worrying to me," he said.

Despite the problem, the development of the mobile internet and popularization of instant messaging and video-sharing social networking services has offered She songs a much-needed boost.

Lei said many She people conduct singing contests in WeChat groups, inspiring the vigor of many young people.

One of her students, 21-year-old Lei Qingmei, has taken to livestreaming platforms to share her music and introduce users to the ethnic group's clothing, food and decorations.

Lei expressed her excitement over how young She people are now showing interest in their folk songs.

"What excites me is many young children are now joining our ranks to learn, and new technology has helped us to spread our songs much farther," she said.

However, she still lamented the fact that few would have the enthusiasm to sing for the whole night as the elder generations used to.

She voiced her fears about how many young She people are making improper changes to the folk songs with Mandarin to make them more easily intelligible.

"We need to maintain the essential part of the language so that they can truly carry it and the culture forward, or they will be lost in a few generations and nobody will know what the original versions of the songs were like," she said.