על הבלדות הסיניות מראשית התפתחת השירה הסינית--לינק מבייגין שאני מקבל

and collected by the laboring people in their working practice. They are usually handed down orally, with constant artistic treatment. Therefore, they are the crystallization of wisdom of the laboring people.

Like any other ancient nations, the primitive Chinese sang folk songs at hunting, sacrificial rites, wooing, wedding, and pasturing. “The working people sing at their work; the hungry people sing at their meals” (the “Book of Poems”). Most folk songs listed in the guo feng (ballads) section in the “Book of Poems” are of this kind. Such ballads were mostly in the form of four syllables a line. The wide use of the form promoted the development of ballads. Take for instance, the first ballad listed in the “Book of Poems”, “Looking at Waterfowl”. It was a love song sung by a young man wooing a young woman. Its content was fresh and charming and its tonal pattern made it fair-sounding.

It is not an exaggeration to say that folk songs are regarded as the father of traditional music. Other forms ofChinese traditional music are influenced by folk songs which provide them with richer sources and wider background.