Chinese ethnic minorities sing songs to solve legal disputes; case goes viral

Some courts in southwestern China’s Guizhou province have hired folk singers to work as mediators in a bid to settle legal disputes among local ethnic minorities.

In a 2023 video that recently went viral on social media, a man in Rongjiang County, Guizhou province, took a woman from a neighbouring village to court after she spread a folk song she made up to defame him and his wife in several chat groups.

Both parties are from the Shui ethnic group, for whom folk singing is a major way of expressing feelings.

It is traditional to sing folk songs at serious occasions such as marriage proposals and dispute settling. Many in the ethnic group believe that folk songs are more powerful than plain words.

The defendant said the song at the heart of the dispute was adapted from an old number and tells the story of a useless man who depends on his thick-skinned wife to earn a living.

The name of the man in the song is that of the plaintiff.

He said the song had spread across local villages and brought trouble to his family.

The two parties could not settle their dispute as the plaintiff demanded 120,000 yuan (US$17,000) in compensation.

That figure includes his travelling costs and compensation for emotional damage.

The woman confessed to her mistake, but refused to pay the compensation, saying she did not have enough money. She offered to pay a small sum of money plus a rooster, a duck and some wine.

The court then invited two folk song mediators and let them sing in court to reason with the two parties.

They sang content like “everyone can live well if we care for others”, “let us not be harsh with each other” and “let us seek legal help”, which reportedly moved the two parties.

They later reached an agreement, with the defendant paying compensation of about 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) to the plaintiff.

Rongjiang County, located in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, has a population of 376,000, and 81.3 per cent of the population is composed of 28 ethnic minorities.

China officially has 55 ethnic minorities.

The Dong, Miao, Shui and Yao people are the four biggest minor ethnic groups in the county. All of them have a well-established folk song tradition.

The Justice Department in Rongjiang hired 19 folk song mediators.

Qiandongnan prefecture also invited folk singers to create new songs, make short videos of the songs and post them on social media to popularise the law to the public.

This is not the first case of a local Chinese government organisation applying folk customs to settle disputes.

In 2019, police stations in southeastern China’s Fujian province established mediation rooms in the name of the sea goddess Mazu, whom many locals believe in.

The police said the Mazu mediation rooms have been “very effective”.

“This is the first time I have seen folk song mediators. Very fresh,” one online observer said.

“It takes mutual understanding to settle a dispute, even in court, and folk songs are a good way to touch emotions among those who believe in their power,” said another.

A person also from the Shui ethnic group said it is now common for many Shui people to sing folk songs in group chats to communicate. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST