看见她,歌谣中的理想美人--董作宾歌谣研究的百年对话

Seeing Her,the Ideal Beauty in Folksong:Revisiting Dong Zuobin’s Folksong Study after 100 Years

1924年,董作宾根据各地歌谣《看见她》而写成的《一首歌谣整理研究的尝试》,被认为是北京大学歌谣运动最重要的成绩之一,一直被民俗学者奉为歌谣研究的经典。奇怪的是,时隔一百年,经过了多次全国性的歌谣搜集运动,这首被胡适和常惠等人认为风行全国的歌谣,搜集总数依然不足一百篇。究其原因,除了董作宾曾经指出的该歌谣只能流行于南北官话系统外,还有一个更重要的原因:这是一首主要由清代旗人子弟带往全国各军事重镇的儿童游戏歌。辛亥革命之后,旗人逐渐星散,这首歌谣也开始走向衰没,1950年之后几乎绝迹。歌谣中对于“理想美人”的夸耀,处处都能看出歌唱者以“贵”为“美”、以“相”取“貌”的审美标准。与其说该歌谣夸耀了一个美丽的女孩,不如说表达了一种对于富足生活的热切向往。

Dong Zuobin wrote“An Attempt to Collate and Study a Folksong”based on the folksong“Seeing Her”in 1924.This article is considered as one of the most important achievements of the Folksong Movement at Peking University,as well as a classic in folksong study.Strangely enough,even though this folksong was believed to be popular across the whole country by scholars such as Hu Shi and Chang Hui,less than 100 variations of this folksong were collected after many national movements of collecting folksongs.One reason for this fact was given by Dong Zuobin.He pointed out that this folksong could only become popular in the northern and southern mandarin systems.Another even more important reason is related to Manchu people.This folksong was a children play song brought to military towns across the country by Manchu people in Qing dynasty,and it gradually faded as Manchu people scattered after Xinhai Revolution.After 1950,it almost disappeared.Praise of the“ideal beauty”in this folksong reflects aesthetic standards taken by the singers,they considered wealth and facial features with good meanings as beauty.In general,this folksong is more about a strong desire towards an abundant life rather than praise of a pretty girl.