"It is really hard work," said Liu, recalling his research efforts in the campaign. Carrying heavy notebooks and recording equipment, the researchers traveled over 20,000 km to isolated villages in precipitous mountains and deserts and other remote inhabited areas, to find, interview and record folk singers.

They recorded lyrics and other expressions of ethnic folk songs in three stages: investigation, recording and transcription.

In 2001, the team traveled around the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Gansu and Qinghai provinces to investigate and select the pilot cities and counties; then, from March 2002 to early 2003, they made two trips to the selected areas to record and conduct investigations. The researchers recorded 235 traditional folk singers from 10 different ethnic minority groups, such as the Dong, Yao, Zhuang, Tu, Salar, Yugur, Baoan, Dongxiang, Tibetan and Hui ethnic minorities.

According to Liu, to preserve authenticity, the crew recorded the singers up close, using no montage techniques. The recorded music was transcribed in their ethnic languages, as well as Chinese and English.

In this way, the lively and valuable materials did not only preserve their original flavors, but also helped express the connotations embodied in each folk song and the singer's sensations.

 Folk songs on the brink of extinction

Traditional folk songs of China's diverse ethnic minority groups, passed on from generation to generation, are not only rich and colorful art works, but also important historical relics. Regretfully, researchers have found that ethnic folk songs -- like any other intangible cultural heritage -- are fading away.

"Some ethnic groups have their own particular language without the written word. If nothing is done to salvage it, their art will soon become extinct," said Liu Xiaochun, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

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