Хмонгский люшэн: история и традиции бамбуковой дудки

Bamboo mouthorgan of Hmong people

The lusheng (, ; Vietnamese: Khèn Mông; also spelled lu sheng; spelled ghengx in standard Hmong and qeej in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the Tang Dynasty. It is a mouth organ with multiple bamboo pipes, each fitted with a free reed, which are fitted into a long blowing tube made of hardwood. It most often has five or six pipes of different pitches and is thus a polyphonic instrument. Its construction includes six parts (mouthpiece, air feed pipe, sheng dou (笙斗, body), sheng guan (笙管, pipes), reed, and resonator tube). It comes in sizes ranging from very small to several meters in length. The lusheng is used primarily in the rural regions of southwestern China (e. g. Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan) and in nearby countries such as Laos and Vietnam, where it is played by such ethnic groups as the Miao (Hmong Hmyo Hmao Hmu Xong) and Dong. The lusheng has special cultural significance in the Miao regions due to its role in marriage and religious ceremonies. At the lusheng festival (September 27–29), performers often dance or swing the instrument from side to side while playing. Since the late 20th century, a modernized version of the instrument has been used in compositions, often as a solo instrument. The lusheng production technique has been recorded in China's State Level Non Material Cultural Heritage List since May 20, 2006.

The lusheng can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty with a history of 3000 years in China. It is believed to have evolved from the Yu (wind instrument), which is a free reed wind instrument originated in the Han nationality. In the Miao region, there is a folk legend about the origin of the lusheng. According to the legend, the world had nine suns in ancient times that caused heavy drought. People struggled to survive and built huge bows and arrows, shooting down eight of the nine suns. This scared the last sun, which kept itself hidden in the clouds. Without the sunshine, there was always night and crops failed to grow. To induce the last sun to come out, people produced the lusheng and played music. The beautiful melody from the lusheng successfully attracted the sun to come out again. After that, playing lusheng became a tradition and cultural expression of the Miao people.

On May 20, 2006, the production techniques on lusheng of the Miao nationality group was approved by China State Council and listed in the State Level Non Material Cultural Heritage List. The mouthpiece is thin bamboo, which is connected to the air feed pipe and the sheng dou (笙斗, body);

Sheng dou (笙斗), which is also called a gas box, is the body of the lusheng. It is mostly made of cedar, pine or wu tong (梧桐) wood. Then two halves will be glued after loading into the sheng guan (笙管, pipes) with seven turns of thin gabions around the outer part.

Sheng guan (笙管, pipes) is mostly made out of white bamboo, which has a thin diameter (1.2 cm), long joints (40~50 cm), uniform thickness, and thin walls. In the funeral ceremony, Miao people will play lusheng to release the souls of dead people from suffering. During the festival, a lusheng competition takes place among individuals and among teams composed of five people. They play lusheng music and dance in ritualized forms (lusheng dance). The players with more tunes and brighter sounds will win and their lusheng will be hung with red ribbons, as a symbol of honor in the village. Other activities also take place during lusheng festival to increase the jubilant atmosphere, including horse racing, bird fighting, and cock fighting.