The Dong ethnic group has a history of more than 2,500 years. They inhabit Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. With a population of 2.6 million, the Dong people mainly engage in agriculture and forestry.

The Grand Song of the Dong Ethnic Group is a multi-part folk chorus with neither accompaniment nor a conductor. The music dates back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period (770-221 BC) and reached its maturity in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Proof can be found in a poem of Lu You, a famous Chinese poet.

Literature from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) showed the prevalence of the Grand Song in most habitations of Dong people.

This folk music was discovered by older generations of musicians in China during the land reform after liberation in 1949. A group of musicians went to the mountainous regions in Liping to compile and record it.

Liping county in Guizhou is home to 350,000 Dong people. The county maintains a simple and unsophisticated?lifestyle. Dong is a creative ethnic group.

[Photo/IC]