Yugur distribution

Yugur nationality, living in the northern foot of Qilian Mountain, mainly produces animal husbandry. Its unique ethnic customs are one of the unique ethnic minorities in Gansu Province. Distributed in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province. The population is 14378. Nearly 90% of Yugur people live in Le Kang, Dahe, Minghua, Huangcheng District and Youai Township of Horseshoe District in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, and the rest live in Huangnibao Yugur Township of Suzhou District, Jiuquan City.

Yugur folk stories and legends are rich in content, vivid in language and rich in national style. Swan Qin is one of them.

Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a poor young man who grazed for a tribal owner all day and lived without food. The young man has a good voice. He sings while eating grass every day. People like his songs very much. Whenever they hear his songs, it seems that they can reduce a lot of pain and sadness. His songs are loved not only by people but also by animals. Every time he sings, many swans come to listen, and the other swans fly away after listening. Only a white swan fluttered its wings and danced, unwilling to leave for a long time. Over time, the young man and the white swan were inseparable and became good friends. One morning, the young man came to the lake again, but there were no white swans flying. Thinking that the white swan was still sleeping, he hurried into the reeds to look for it. Unexpectedly, walking into the reeds, a group of yellow-pointed birds flew over. He looked forward and saw that the white swan had been eaten by these poisonous birds, leaving only the skeleton and stomach. The young man hurried to hold the skeleton and cried loudly. He cried until dawn, and fell asleep when he was tired of crying.

The next day, when the young man woke up, he found that the swan skeleton had become a beautiful piano. He looked carefully and saw that there were six strings on the piano, all made of swan intestines. Jean's head is exactly the same as that of a swan, and her eyes are shining. The young man plucked the first string in surprise, and the swan piano made a wonderful sound. Before the piano fell, on a sunny day, it suddenly thundered and rained heavily. Pull the second string, the rain stopped and the clouds dispersed; Pull the third string, the weather clears up and a beautiful rainbow falls in front of my eyes; Knocking on the fourth string, a very beautiful song came; Pulling the fifth rope, I found a good horse coming towards him from a distance. He mounted his horse and ran to the place where the song came, but when he got there, there was nothing. The young man remembered that there was still a string that had not been plucked. When he plucked the sixth string, a beautiful girl in a white skirt flew down from the clouds and bowed before his horse with a smile. The young man helped the girl get on the horse. Two people rode horses and played the swan piano, and traveled all over the Yugur grassland. It turned out that the girl was a swan fairy, and he felt sorry for the young man, so he came down to earth and became relatives with him. It is said that later the girl and the young man returned to the sky. Since then, Yugur people have their own national musical instrument-Swan Qin.