Two Mangghuer (Tu, Monguor, Mongghul) Wedding Songs (2008) from Minhe County, Qinghai Province, PR China

This paper presents two songs, "Highland Barley Liquor" (ten lines) and "Gatehouse" (six seven-lined stanzas). "Highland Barley Liquor" is performed only by women (at weddings) and sung in a mix of Mangghuer and the local Chinese dialect. This song details how the singer made liquor from highland barley and now offers it in a porcelain cup to the bridetakers. "Highland Barley Liquor" is glossed and translated into English and Modern Standard Chinese (MSC). "Gatehouse" is performed only by men (at weddings) in the local Chinese dialect. This song is sung by two men from the groom's clan when liquor is offered to important guests, such as the matchmaker and the groom's and bride's maternal uncles seated together at the most important banquet table. The first five stanzas of the song describe an ideal Mangghuer family - wealthy and with three sons and one daughter. Only wealthy Mangghuer families have imposing gatehouses. The family mentioned in this song has three sons and one daughter, and all are successful - a blessing to the new family. However, this song's immediate, practical purpose is to offer liquor to main guests, so the last stanza is the most important part of the song, with these key guests described as Eight-Treasure elders 'celestial beings'. When this last stanza is sung, young men from the groom's clan approach the guests and offer liquor. This song is glossed and presented in English translation, local Chinese as performed, and an MSC version. In 2020, both men and women were singing the two songs just described. While this paper is not the first work on Mangghuer songs (e.g., see Wang and Stuart 1995a, 1995b; Wang et al. 1995; Ma 1990; Hu and Stuart 1992; Zhu and Stuart 1996; Zhu, Qi, and Stuart 1997; Qi et al. 1999), it is the only work I am familiar with that features sung wedding lyrics that are glossed and translated into English and, in the case of Mangghuer lyrics, that are glossed and translated into Chinese and English.