Joy Song

...In old Beijing from the end of the Qing to the beginning of the Republic, people were said to have been seen cutting themselves with knives or bricks, spinning plates, controlling snakes, and showing off their blind eyes and disabled limbs. "Xi Ge" and "Leng Hua Luo" were also sung as "beggar arts," but these songs were taught by the chief or his specialized teacher. "Xi Ge" has the character of a "door-to-door art," a congratulatory song sung at weddings, birthday celebrations, new constructions, store openings, etc., and "Leng Hua Luo" seems to have been performed since the Song Dynasty, and after the Republic, it was called "Improved Leng Hua Luo" and became a kind of farce. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Joy Song" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…清末から民国初年のころの旧北京には，ナイフや煉瓦（れんが）などで自分の肉体を傷つけたり，皿まわしやヘビをあやつるもの，失明した目や障害をきたした手足をみせるものも見られたという。〈乞食芸〉として〈喜歌〉や〈蓮花落（れんげらく）〉も歌われたが，これらの歌謡は頭目やその専門の師匠から伝授されるものであった。〈喜歌〉は〈門付芸〉の性格をもち，婚礼，誕生祝い，新築，開店などに歌われる祝儀歌であり，〈蓮花落〉はすでに宋代ころから行われていたらしく，民国以後は〈改良蓮花落〉と称されて一種の茶番劇と化した。…

※「喜歌」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報