Like the Dage of the Dong ethnic group -- a unique, multi-part, complex chorus style -- that once caused a sensation around the world, can now only be sung by a handful of Dong people.

Liu said that at present ethnic folk singers are mostly middle-aged and elderly people and that few people under 50 can sing the old folk songs. Among the 67 recorded Guangxi singers, 36 were over 50 years of age (70 percent). In Bagen village, no one under 20 could sing a folk song.

According to Zhao Xiaoyi from the Sichuan Musicians' Association, there are now only eight people in the province who can sing melodies from Nanping folk songs, a famous local music in the Jiuzhaigou tourist destination; less than 10 can play the Qiang flute; and only four can sing the multi-part chorus of the Qiang ethnic group - the youngest of whom is in his 50s.

Liu recounted the sad tale of a Yugur singer named Tuo Yueyu who died just days before the arrival of the second research team. On her deathbed, Tuo asked her daughter why the team had not yet arrived.

 The folk art keeper

The phasing-out of folk songs and other folk arts is a result of modernization and globalization, which, researchers believe, has altered the lifestyles of ethnic minority groups. Furthermore, there are limited channels for passing down these skills, which, in turn, is draining the nation's reserves of such precious works.

To preserve these ethnic gems, a nationwide heritage rescue program was launched by the Ministry of Culture last February; before long the National Center of the Chinese Ethnic and Folk Culture Preservation Project was also established.

Zhou Heping, vice minister of culture, revealed that in 2002 and 2003 the government spent a special fund of 6 million yuan (US$722,892) to start up and investigate the preservation project; this year, another 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) will be earmarked for the project.

Who will then be the guardian of Chinese folk arts?

Many believe the responsibility should be shouldered by all of society: the government, experts and scholars, folk handicraftsmen and ordinary people. According to Zhao Weisui, another vice minister of culture, "Saving and preserving the folk culture of ethnic minorities needs more field research at the grass-roots level."

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