Lan Huahua
"Lan Huahua" is a folk song from northern Shaanxi in China. The song tells of a rebellious woman named Lan Huahua who, forced into an arranged marriage, chooses to break with convention and runs away with her lover. In other versions of the story, she commits suicide. The song became highly popular in the People's Republic of China era where she was portrayed as a symbol of class struggle, and the story of the song has been retold in poems, novels, musical dramas and television shows.
Background
Origin
"Lan Huahua" is a folk song from northern Shaanxi, and popular in western Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, and Eastern Gansu. There are no records of the song before the 20th century, but a line in the lyrics refers to "13 provinces", taken to mean the whole of China, suggesting that the song may have its origin during the Ming dynasty when the country was organized into 13 provinces and two capital regions. Another suggestion is that the song comes from the Republic of China era - Lan Huahua was said to be real person who fell in love with a member of the Red Army that had moved into Yan'an. In this story, the soldier wrote the song in her memory after she was forced into marriage to someone else and later died.The song was collected from various places in Shaaxi including Gulin, Yan'an, and Suide, and it was included in the 1945 anthology Selection of northern Shaanxi folk songs from the Lu Xun Academy.
Content
The full version published in Selection of northern Shaanxi folk songs has 20 stanzas, which are arranged into 3 sections.The first section tells of the birth of Lan Huahua, how she was the best of all the girls in 13 provinces, and her marriage into the Zhou family. The middle section tells of Lan Huahua running away from her marriage and her relationship with her lover, while the final short section tells of the end of the relationship, with Lan noting how many friends there could be in the world.
Variations
There are a number of different versions of the song. A shorter version is based on stanzas 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, and partially of 13 of the longer version published in 1945. This version removes mentions of her flirtatiousness and sexuality, and it ends with Lan running away to be with her lover. This version was recorded by Guo Lanying. Another version popular in the 21st century has been further sanitized, removing the mention of her marriage to the landlord.In another version of the story, Lan Huahua dies by suicide.
Lyrics
There are a number of different versions of the song. The version given below is a shortened popular version, which also exists with some minor variations in its lyrics.Adaptations
The story of Lan Huahua has been retold many times in a variety of forms. An illustrated poem of the story was published in 1959, and a musical was produced in 1978, which was then adapted into a TV miniseries in 1985.Musically, it has been adapted into a narrative piece for erhu titled Narrative Song of Lan Huahua by Guan Ming in 1986. The first section of this piece is based on the tune of the song. The story has also been adapted into an opera Lan Huahua by composer Zhang Qianyi and librettist Zhao Daming for the National Centre for the Performing Arts, which premiered in 2017.