"Every now and then she and her friends would put on an old Manchu performance for themselves, playing hand drums while they sang and danced. The tunes they played consisted of very simple, repetitive notes and rhythms, and the women made up the lyrics as they went along. The married women sang about their sex lives, and the virgins asked questions about sex. Being mostly illiterate, the women used this as a way to learn about the facts of life. Through their singing, they also talked to each other about their lives and their husbands, and passed on their gossip..
My grandmother loved these gatherings, and would often practice for them at home. She would sit on the kang shaking the hand drum with her left hand and singing to the beat, composing the lyrics as she went along."- Jung Chang, Wild Swans
Intersections
