Mudong is located in the east of Chongqing and on the south bank of the Yangtze River. It is a town in Ba'nan area of Chongqing Municipality. Every year in the sowing and harvest seasons, people can constantly hear one and another loud, sonorous, clear, melodious, and sweet folk song if they stand on the vast farmland of Mudong Town in Ba'nan (ba is an alias of Chongqing, banan means the south of Chongqing).
Mudong folk songs are the songs sung by people in Mudong Town of Banan area in Chongqing. They could date back to "Bayu (also refers to Chongqing) songs and dances" in ancient times, "simple and crude folk songs" in Warring States Period, "Bazi praise songs" in the Han Dynasty and "Zhuzhi" in the Tang Dynasty. They didn't develop into today's Mudong folk songs until the Dynasties of Ming and Qing.
Mudong folk songs have a long history. They permeate all parts of laborer's life and work. There are songs about crops or farmers, called "Helai", funny songs about reversion of normal phenomena in daily life, called "Shen song", songs sung in antiphonal style, called "Pan song", inspiring songs used for unifying the actions in work, songs for folk customs and religious rituals, as well as various ditties and songs sung in dragon lantern game, lion dance, bamboo-stick dance, color boat game and dragon boat game.
In the past, Mudong people not only sang these songs in production, life and folk activities, but also held traditional singing parties, such as the parties about Haoyang (a kind of work in paddy fields), about marriage, about funeral, about celebration of spring, about threshing, about pickled tuber mustard, about crabs, about fishing, about grazing, about children, and so on.
Mudong people focus on Mudong folk songs with great passion and pass them down generation by generation. The songs have already become an indispensable part in these people’s life. Presently, numerous farmers in Qiuling, a town located by the Yangtze River, could sing the folk songs. The farmers who can sing over 10 songs can be found everywhere. Over ten farmer singers could sing more than 100 of these songs. Therefore, Mudong Town is entitled "Home to Folk Songs" by Chongqing Municipality.
