TO THE WONDER - Notes about the slice of life TV series

Thank you so much for this! Some things were easy to assume, but to have it all clearly explained, it's just fantastic! THANK YOU!

3.2 DESCRIPTION AND COMMENTS  (PART 2)

Gif from a video presentation of the drama in Chinese posted April 26, 2024 to Youtube (linked)

Some of the problems faced by people in this area (and indeed in many parts of the world) are lightly touched upon : 

• The concerns about water management (comically symbolized by Wenxiu's DIY  funneling rainwater from the holes in the yurt's roof, ep.5) ; women in the summer pastures wash clothes, hair and themselves in the stream with hard black soap they make themselves from sheep tallow and cinders and fragrant herbs, but when living in the village, they bathe once in a while in bath houses in town. Water is always necessary for food and tea making, and for livestock's drinking needs, so sources, streams, and lakes must be protected reasonably.  Floods have always been a recurring threat in China, so diverting excess water and building reservoirs, or canals, has been done for millennia. In the Xinjiang, it is interesting to visit the "karez" underground water funneling system of oases like Turpan, which conserve cool and clear water even in the worst of summer heat.   Industrial use has put a strain on the country's water management, so clear waters are treasured now even in the face of economic development needs.

• The pillaging of endangered natural resources and wildlife (such as digging holes in the pastures to unearth fake "medicinal" caterpillar fungus - the real "cordyceps" also nicknamed "Himalayan Viagra" is a very rare and expensive parasite, but not yet a protected species, so unscrupulous harvesters have laid waste to fragile areas, pushing India to outlaw its trade). Click on the picture above for a short presentation of this fungus, by Business insider, in 2019:

• Preserving wildlife is an effort that has consequences on the traditional way of life. Kazakhs used to be among the hunters who used falconry, and notably eagles to hunt.  Sulitan is pictured with a photograph of eagle hunting in his yurt and laments the vanishing lifestyle.  Although eagle hunting has not totally vanished, it is now regulated within certain areas and under close supervision from foundations dedicated to their protection, so the birds will be reintroduced in the wild to breed, despite the encroachment of economic development efforts.  The South China Morning Post had a 2'44 short video to show Kazakh eagle hunters in 2021 and Xinhua News published an article about the old hunters in 2017 (linked with picture above).

GIF from Weibo video excerpt of Episode 8, Baitan's return 

• The peacekeeping efforts that clash against traditions : the Kazakh and Uighur males used not to be considered as "men" without their impressive and not only decorative knives or daggers. Nevertheless, if the Xinjiang minority knives were picturesque, sometimes bejeweled and precious works of art and heirlooms, knives were also often used by Kazakhs and Uighurs to settle drunken or other disputes...   

"There are four famous knives in Xinjiang,  Yili shamusak folding knife, Yingjisha craft knife, Yanqi Chen Zhengtao knife and Shache buyingti folding knife. Among them, ingesha knife is most famous for its exquisite shape, beautiful pattern and sharp edge. They are unique in technology and style. They are praised for their economic, beautiful, practical, convenient, exquisite and easy to carry characteristics" (Handicrafts of Xinjiang) Knife-carrying was part of an important tradition, but this had to change following a few shocking knifing of innocent citizens, notably in a bus station, when some extremist sectarians went on bloodthirsty sprees in the wake of unrest stirred by foreign inspired Islamist extremists in the early 2000s.

So, since 2001, nobody is allowed to ride public transport in China (with no folkloric exception for Xinjiang any longer) with knives or large offensive weapons, and at the bus station, Sulitan is denied boarding with his knife and has to ride all the way on his horse to look up Ba Tai. In similar way, the drive to disarm ordinary citizens is shown through the demand by the village chief that Sulitan hand over his last hunting gun (even if he saved two lives by using it.)   Different ways were used to help reduce the potentially dangerous weapons, including offering to buy them at official prices ("Urumqi residents hand in weapons", China Daily, 2013, picture below)

Dealing with religion-inspired threats is difficult, since Muslim faith is a time honored one in China. Ming dynasty rulers and civil servants were often Muslims. Mosks are found in all major cities, and some autonomous regions are administered by Chinese Muslims who support State policies. Indeed, the "ethnic" (or rather, cultural) Hui minority found almost everywhere in China is simply Muslim! So, being a Muslim in China is just matter-of-fact for most, with no discrimination against them or their religion as long as worship is peaceful and heeds the laws (proselytism is banned, education has to meet the state standards to raise new generations that can equally face the new technology and workplaces, keeping peace is a fundamental tenet, but going on pilgrimage to Mecca is not disputed and even supported). Targeting extremism is another matter and this also applies to other sects, be they "Buddhist" or even "Christian". 

GIF from a video on the drama Weibo, Gao the hopeless

•  Poverty and  hopelessness, addictions and alcoholism is yet another issue : living frugally can be seen as escape or "romantic" as for the herding culture, but it can trigger violence and lawlessness too, alcoholism and addictions. This is also lightly brushed in the drama, with the treacherous Gao and his aggressors, and the eldest son of Suliman, who died a drunk, after years of domestic abuse and leaving his widow Tokan destitute without even a washing board, having to support herself and her children or giving them up to Suliman if she wanted to remarry a nicer man.

            To The Wonder, ep. 6 ; Wenxiu tries on the saukele but learns that her crush Batai will be betrothed to another girl! (GIF from selected screenshots)

• Changing matrimonial customs and the need for children.  This is touched upon in the story of Tokan and her children Nadira and Yerdana.

The patriarchal model is being challenged by modernity, where children do not always accept the choices imposed on them by parents, such as being ordered to take over herding instead of working elsewhere. Women can make a career for themselves, so staying with the husband and in-laws may not be matter-of-fact ; wedding ceremonies may be felt as less meaningful, despite tall fairy-like Kazakh bejeweled "saukele" hats and other wedding attire. 

   Each saukele wedding hat is different, but white color is usually avoided; the influence of Western wedding dress style may allow a veil to be added, such as in the miniseries.

The "important decision" in love matters is touched on by the conversation between Bai Ta and Wenxiu : love is a burning wish, but reality is there, with the shackles of traditions and differences in education, family, and prospects for work. 

Zhang Fengxia, as a free woman in the wake of her widowhood and age (she is about 40)  has no qualms about living with and separating whimsically from a lover. She quips about her right to "divorce" if things go awry. In fact, this can be a problem too : the divorce rate in China is very high and it is easy to divorce, sometimes too easy : some women have found themselves officially divorced, unawares, by their unfaithful spouse !  

But children remain relatively important not only to keep "blood lines" (besides, marriage between different ethnic groups was never banned; in ancient times, it could even be used as a tool to forge alliances between fiefs and countries,  even today, intermarriage is not necessarily despised, the children are even expected to be "more beautiful and more clever"!). 

Still from the making-of, posted to the drama Weibo page.

Recognizing that minzu 民族 ethnic minorities had specific characteristics and customs that needed some protection to keep them from vanishing caused PRC authorities to introduce "positive discrimination" such as reserved seats in the National Assembly, free  or almost free health care in hospitals, TV programs featuring minority languages, customs, artifacts, and natural beauty spots to encourage tourism and economic growth.  Special efforts were devoted to further literacy and education, facilitating bilingual education (including through translated textbooks) sending young teachers and volunteers on missions to teach in poorer rural communities, and/or establishing boarding schools for those who were living in mountainous or other remote areas,  too far away from proper schools. There has been a drive to help minority students access to higher education through preferential treatment, with bonus grades for minority children and 1 or 2 year university preparatory classes that enroll only students from ethnic minorities. In addition, special quotas guarantee each minority to access the "University for Nationalities" (Minzu Daxue,  Beijing MUC is a prestigious higher education college with a large offer of majors,  from science, engineering, law, tourism.... to music and archeology, and also minority languages and cultures. There are 8 other similar Minzu universities : Chengdu SWUN in Sichuan, Lanzhou Xibei Minzu in Gansu, Dalian in Liaoning, Nanning in Guangxi, Kunming in Yunnan, Xining in Qinghai, Tongliao in Inner Mongolia, and Yinchuan in Ningxia). There are also many universities in Xinjiang, in particular in Ürümqi.  Studies about the forms and results of the preferential treatment are many; here is another one.

Minorities used to be exempt from the one child policy that (despite its many loopholes) straitjacketed the Han into limiting population growth.  So, the Kazakh population grew from about 600,000 in 1962 to about triple that number in the 2020s. Han people who immigrated to the Xinjiang (and some areas of Sichuan) were also exempted from one child policy : Wenxiu could totally have had a sibling, if her mother had wanted to, but Zhang Feixia preferred trade to housekeeping.  

To The Wonder, ep.2 : Intercommunication - nomads shopping in Zhang Feixia's store in Saykhan Bulake.  (GIF from selected screenshots)

• Communities and floating population, intercommunication.   Xinjiang in 2020 had, according to an official report, 56.53 % of the total 25,852,345 people living in urban areas; 43.47 % in rural areas (an increase of 13.73% urban dwellers since 2010).  

The concept of "mínzú" 民族 ("ethnic minority" or "nationality") is complicated, although formalized in official regulations since 1954 in China. It refers both to linguistic and historical identities and a notion of shared nation building, not an opposition of separated categories dominated by one, although the "stalinist" understanding of "minority" people led at first to establish the "autonomous regions" (or prefectures, counties, or "banners" in Inner Mongolia).  Soon after the establishment of the PRC, a team of social scientists was assembled to number and describe the various mínzú. This proved to be more difficult than first thought, and if the denial of their existence before 1949 had been criticized, the final decision was also not totally satisfactory, since it reduced the number of recognized ethnic groups by perhaps eight-fold, and today the Wèi Shìbié Mínzú (literally 'undistinguished ethnic groups') total more than 836,500 people (as of 2020 latest census). These groups include Geija, Khmu, Kucong, Mang, Deng, Sherpas, Bajia and Youtai (Jewish). Other groups were just lumped in with the Han (汉人) or Hui (itself a special category, since it has no real distinctive ethnic characteristic other than religion and History).

"All nationalities of our nation have already united into a great family of independent and equal nationalities", 1955 propaganda poster.

56 nationalities depicted in this collage poster in the form of a "heart" or  "rooster" shape of Chinese country.

39 ethnic groups were recognized by the first national census in 1954. This further increased to 54 by the second national census in 1964, with the  Lhoba (Luòbā 珞巴)  group added in 1965. The last change was the addition of the Jino people (Jīnuòzú 基諾族) in 1979, bringing the number of recognized ethnic groups to the current 56.

汉人 Hànrén  people themselves are a "mínzú", but when looked at more closely, they are also a construct over millennia, incorporating and assimilating various invaders who ruled the country, or countries, as the "Warring states" period reminds : these parts of the Chinese puzzle still survive in the dialects of "mandarin language" and local identities that make distinctions between for example : "Northerners" and "Southerners", Dōngběi rén (people from the industrial North-East of China),  Shànghǎi rén 上海人 ;  Yuè 粤 (Cantonese speakers), Wú 吴 (lower Yang-tse river people of the "Jiangnan" region), Shǔ 蜀 (Sichuanese mandarin speakers), Mǐnnán 闽南 (Fujian but also other Chinese origin people who disseminated to South-East Asia and Taiwan), Hakka (or Kèjiā 客家 , descendants of Yellow river soldiers who settled into distinctive round community buildings in the South) etc.  ---The word 汉 Hàn only became widely understood as "Chinese" after the Qin dynasty (which despite being short-lived, 221 to 207 BC, established approximate boundaries and a basic administrative system that were followed by subsequent rulers of China).  The Qing (Manchu rulers, 1636-1911) equated the lands of the Qing state, including present day Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and other areas as "zhōngguó"中国 ("central country", China) in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a multi ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas.

But in the 1870s, revolutionary ideas started brewing, with the aim to topple the ailing Qing dynasty that was powerless against invaders who tried to colonize China and subdue it through the opium trade.  Sun Yatsen/Sūn Zhōngshān 孫中山 (modern China's founding father with the first Republic proclaimed after the revolution of 1911)  frequently used the term Zhōnghuá mínzú 中华民族  to refer to the people of China sharing a same identity in the light of nation building.   Zhōnghuá mínzú was initially rejected in the People's Republic of China (PRC) but resurrected after the death of Mao Zedong  in 1976 to include Han Chinese alongside 55 other ethnic groups as a collective Chinese family. Since the late 1980s, the most fundamental change of the PRC's nationalities and minorities policies is the renaming from Zhōngguó rénmín (中国人民; 'the Chinese people') to Zhōnghuá mínzú (中华民族; 'the Chinese nation'), signalling a shift away from a multinational communist people's statehood of China to one multi-ethnic Chinese nation state with one single Chinese national identity.

 Today, the population ratio of Hànzú 汉族 vs Shǎoshù mínzú  少数民族 minorities is, as of the 2020 census : 91.10 /9.90%  (1.2 billion vs 125 million of the total 1.409 billion population).

Within Xinjiang province, the population ratio of Han vs minzu (民族) minorities was 42.24/57.76%.  Among the minorities, Uighurs numbered 77.85%. Their group increased by 1.6 million people since 2010 ; the Han increased by 2.1 million, mostly from movement from other provinces.   The "floating population" in Xinjiang numbered 8,051,404 persons. Of them, the population moving into Xinjiang from other provinces reached 3,390,712 persons.  Those moving within Xinjiang (herders, job seekers...) reached 4,660,692 persons.  "In 2023, Xinjiang received over 265 million visitors from home and abroad,which is a record high and achieved a total tourism revenue of nearly 300 billion yuan."

51.66 % of the population were males while 48.34 % were females : the imbalance is about same as it was in the 1960s.   22.5 % are less than 15 years old; the elderly over 60 are about 19%.  In Xinjiang, the share of children in the age group of 0 to 14 was 4.51 percentage points higher than the national average of 17.95 %; that of people in the working age group of 15 to 59 was 2.91 percentage points higher than the national average of 63.35 %. Over the past 60 years, the average life expectancy has increased from less than 30 years to 75.65 years.

The efforts towards education have been successful : the illiteracy (people who could not read) rate in Xinjiang was 2.66 %,  lower than the national average. People aged 15 and above had benefited from 10.11 years schooling (increased from 9.27 in 2010), with over 4 million people having university education (junior college and above). The education system comprises primary school=6 years; junior middle school=9 years; senior high school=12 years; and junior college and above=16 years.  (Besides standard education is supplemented by instruction broadcast over radio and television.)  

Chinese language is used in schools for Geography, History, Science and Mathematics teaching, while the Uyghur language is also maintained as a subject. Indeed, Uyghur is one of the working languages of China's highest parliament, the National Assembly. It can also be studied and researched in universities such as the Minzu university in Beijing.

According to Britannica encyclopedia, Xinjiang is inhabited by more than 40 different ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Uyghurs and the Han (Chinese). In addition to Hui (Chinese Muslims), other groups include Mongolians, Khalkha, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tungusic-speaking Manchu and Sibos, Tajiks, Tatars, Russians, and Tahurs.   There are two major language groups besides Chinese in the region. The Mongolians speak languages of the Mongolian family of the Altaic group, and the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks speak languages of the Turkic family of the Altaic group. The Tajiks, however, speak a language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language group. Mongolian, Uyghur, and Kazakh are written languages in everyday use (in addition to official "Hanzi" Chinese script); Mongolian has its own script, while Uyghur and Kazakh are written in the Arabic script.  Nevertheless they don't use the 27 letter Persian/ Arabic alphabet that has no consonants (and was used  for writing the Chagatai language, the regional literary language); they use a 32 letter alphabet since 1978 and reformed by the Chinese government in 1983, to represent the Uyghur vowels. This alphabet is also used on the official Rmb banknote (top right printed mention, under the Mongol script - the other scripts on the note are : pinyin using Latin alphabet, Tibetan, and Zhuang, representing the five main languages spoken in China by Han or non-Han minorities).

 But spoken Uyghur predominates in Xinjiang despite the popularization of putonghua ("common language" based on northern mandarin language of China). Also, nowadays, in Kazakhstan, Kazakh is mostly written in the Cyrillic script, whereas Arabic-based alphabet is still being used by minorities in China. Since October 26, 2017, via Presidential Decree 569, Kazakhstan will adopt the Latin script by 2025.

"People can freely choose which language to use for communication. Furthermore, Xinjiang Radio and Television Station broadcasts television and radio programs in several languages on a daily basis. Xinjiang Daily newspaper along with several local newspapers are published in multiple languages as well. Additionally, the streets of Xinjiang display shop signs that incorporate both Mandarin Chinese and minority languages."

detail from a photo posted by a traveler to Ürümqi on Twitter, in October 2023 (link)

Despite the linguistic differences, the Xinjiang, an ancient land of oases and cross border trade, of which the Silk Road remains famous, is a place where communities are not xenophobic and are open to intercommunication. Since the Tang dynasty, a system of writing the Chinese language with Arabic script gradually developed and standardized to some extent. (Currently, the oldest known artifact showing signs of this Xiao'erjing transliterating tool of special Perso Arab script is a stone stele in the courtyard of Daxue Xixiang Mosque in Xi'an). People learned smatterings of other minority language for the purpose of trade, or family alliances. They also now use the putonghua common language. But in the region, road signs and storefronts usually use double writing systems (or triple, if there is pinyin transliteration to Latin alphabet too); sometimes they go all the way to writing in 5 languages such as this sign in Kashgar showed (it has Uighur, Hanzi, English, Russian, and even Japanese!) :

Street sign over a busy intersection in Ürümqi, October 2023

The presentation of the text basis for the mini-series on Baidu had an interesting note about Zhang Feixia's efforts at intercommunication, which also illustrates how no language stays in stasis, but is constantly evolving, borrowing words, creating new ones, even modifying grammar, a subject of great interest for linguistic research!

The book written by Li Juan documented sometimes funnily these spontaneous efforts at intercommunication, using a sort of pidgin :  "Xinjiang is a place where many ethnic groups live together, and many languages coexist. Language is the carrier of culture, and the cultures of various ethnic groups blend and coexist in the garden of language, creating Xinjiang’s unique Chinese vocabulary. Li Juan's family first arrived in Altay. They were foreigners, and they came from the Han people to the Kazakhs. The language barrier was the biggest obstacle to communication. In order to achieve the purpose of communication, some words with national characteristics were created. Li Juan's mother is always "cleverly" inventing some simple and easy-to-understand words, such as "kā lā mógū" (彩虹布拉克), which is a mixture of Kazakh and Chinese. Kara means black in Kazakh. Mógū means mushroom in Chinese : the new words are easy to understand and remember. They are still used by people today, almost all over Altay! The Xiāngsī (相思) brand cigarettes are nicknamed "xiǎo niǎo" (小鸟 Birds), the grenade-shaped liquor is translated as "Bang Bang" (砰砰), the golden fish is goldfish (金鱼 jīnyú), and the "beautiful bird with a big tail"  is peacock (孔雀 kǒngquè) . These are all words originally created by Li Juan's mother. Although Li Juan’s mother translated haphazardly between Kazakh and Chinese without following the proper rules of meanings' correspondence, because of this carelessness, communication was simplified and convenient, and the goods at home were sold. From this we can see the efforts Li Juan’s mother had made in order to communicate and make ends meet." (Baidu)

"To Love, to Live, to Get Hurt" :

Men seni jahsi koremin."
In Kazakh culture, friendship or love occurs between people because they are seen.
So in Kazakh "I see you clearly" means "I like you" !

"A cloud came from the sky, and a puff of sand rolled up in the distance. A passer-by comes and you don’t understand what he says, but you are still willing to sit down and have a cup of tea with him. If life goes on like this, will there be more questions or answers? It's a nice weather with no wind or rain. Is it better to stay or leave? This is a story about search, loss and far-flung territories. Whose Altay is it? The answer is floating in the wind."  (from the drama Weibo)

Other drama shot in and depicting places and minorities of the Xinjiang:

Hemu Village in north west Xinjiang

Road Home. The companion piece Where was this filmed presents some other interesting places, some very close in the Altay : Kanas Lake and Hemu Village.

Next section : Production and reception

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OST  MUSIC

(click on pictures to link to music or source)

EXTENDED OST with lyrics and subtitles, by Sarann to listen to (1h01min31) ; the four major songs and their backing tracks + the background music composed by Gao Xiaoyang    (but not totally complete since three songs on the official OST list are missing as well as the dance music in ep.6)

No.	Song Title	Artist	Listen on (click on pictures or links)
1.	Confused Gaze  (苍茫的凝望) composer :  Yuan Wenrui   袁文睿	Ma Yi Li                        马伊琍	+ MV with Korean subs
2.	Let's Go Home  (回家吧) composer :  Tang Yeshu 唐野树 ; lyrics : Tian Heming 田贺铭	Zhou Yi Ran  & Yu Shi          周依然、于适
3.	Rainbow Brak  (彩虹布拉克) Yu Shi's version of Let's Go Home	Yu Shi 于适	+ Sarann's subtitled MV:
4.	Moonlight  (月光) composer : Yerpoli 叶尔波利	Yu  Shi 于适	ep.6 + final theme
5.	Altay  (阿勒泰) composer:   Yerpoli  叶尔波利	dombula &song by Yerpoli on YT recording ;  other version a cappella group song in bath house, ep.3	opening credits of ep.3
6.	White Waves  (白色的波浪) composer : Shailasi Garmuhamati (沙依拉西·加尔木哈买提)		Youtube
7.	Heaven on Earth  (人间天堂) composer : Ahsan Haigh (阿山·海格)

In addition, commenters (thank you to roya and Malachite Lizard) hunted up these pieces from the dance sequence in episode 6 :

	Title	Artists	click on picture for link
1.	Kara jorga  (*) (Казахский танец "Қара Жорға")	(traditional dance, recorded for a competition for the 30th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2021)
2.	Tomarey (a song about a girl named Tumar)		not found yet
3.	Ak Saulem	Oktem Altayev
(*)	Kara Jorga with song	from a collection of Kara Jorga recordings in Xinjiang

INSTRUMENT   "Dombula or Dombra" ( о быра in Kazakh language) is the traditional long necked lute, plucked instrument of the Kazakh.  The instrument differs slightly in different regions. The Kazakh dombra has frets and is played by strumming with the hand or plucking each string individually, with an occasional tap on the main surface of the instrument. The body is one piece, carved of wood in a spoon form. While the strings are traditionally made of sinew, modern dombulas are usually produced using nylon strings. The instrument used to be the herders' companion while they were herding sheep on pastures. There are three legends about it: one the tale of the old herder Akan, one about a soul partner of people, and one about the tree that can sing. It shows the long history of the Dombra and its wide range of sounds, which is very suitable for fast rhythm. The dombra is widely used in Kazakhstan and has a considerable status. The first Sunday of July was designated from 2018 as Dongbula Day in Kazakhstan, to better preserve the culture of dongbula national musical instrument.

Music Producer GAO XIAOYANG  and Composer YERPOLI  in interview: [mentions in square brackets are added by me; click on links or pictures to watch and listen to the presentations of the instruments] Translation of the Baidu feature :  "New Weekly" reporters conducted exclusive interviews with film and television music producer Gao Xiaoyang and national musician Ye Erpoli. The following is their self-report.   [2024-05-12  original story written by 阿祯 A Zhen] Gao Xiaoyang 高小阳 Composer and music director for the mini series "My Altai" ;  film and television music producer. Nominated for the 34th China Golden Rooster Award (2021) for his music production in the movie " My Sister ". Yerpoli  叶尔波利 Ethnic Kazakh musician and composer, he has released in March 2019 a 10 song record called  Tartu;  see below for more information.  Yerboli's 日出  (Sunrise) & "Moonlight" sung in duet with Reida 热依达. Gao Xiaoyang : "I really like a Kazakh folk song called "Black Skylark". Unlike most high-spirited Altay folk songs, it has a melodious and melancholy melody, and tells a story: a young man raised a little skylark, and then the skylark flew away and he grew up. Until one day, he met the skylark again. It was lingering and singing in the sky, but it refused to fly down. Seeing a familiar scene, the young man lamented that time has passed and his youth is no longer there.    I heard this song when I was a child in Baihaba, the main filming location of "My Altay". In the Altay region, there are many local folk songs, which are performed with national musical instruments, such as the relatively familiar "Dombula"  冬不拉.    In order to harmonize the real and heavy life emotions with the images, when making the soundtrack, I chose the most representative Dombula, and also added some fusion elements with Altay characteristics, such as mouth harp 口弦  and "khoomei"  [呼麦 is a form of Mongol-Tuvan throat singing.].    In addition to the Dombula, there are also some little-known stringed instruments in Altay. Among them, the kobyz [库布孜] is my favorite. Its structure is very simple. It is just a hollowed out piece of wood with two strings attached. There is no panel. Although it is simple to make, the sound of Kubuzi is simple and melodious, and the music played with it seems to flow into the heart      I grew up in northern Xinjiang, and when I was composing the soundtrack for "My Altay," many scenes from the past would come back to mind. For example, when schoolday ended, you would see the setting sun slanting on Bogda Peak of Tianshan Mountain. In summer, a big tree in the Gobi provided shade. I sat under the tree and ate watermelon before going home. In the distance were stretches of snow-capped mountains, and when a gust of wind blew, it made leaves give rustling sounds.     In spring, the temperature had not yet risen, and the snow line in the snow-capped mountains was also very low, but the flowers on the grassland were already in full bloom. The green grass and dots of flowers echoed the snow-capped mountains further away, making it like a fairyland. I enjoyed lying back on the grassland and listening to the flowing stream. The scenery in Altay is magnificent and vast, but the sound of the water is extremely gentle.     Just like the scene in "My Altay", the girls living in the yurt on the ranch would go to the river to wash their clothes. The sound of running water mixed with the sound of pounding clothes, gossiping and laughing. The water nourishes all living things and witnesses the cycle of the four seasons. In my mind, it represents the endless life of this pure land surrounded by mountains." Yerpoli : "In "My Altay", there is an interlude called "Moonlight" [link to recording with Kazakh lyrics in Cyrillic script] played and sung by Yu Shi. In fact, when the creation was first completed, I named it "Sunrise". I especially like watching the sunrise. The moment you open the curtain of the yurt and see the sunrise, you will feel that everything is silent between heaven and earth, with only the sun covering everything. The sunshine also brings the power to dispel all the gloom.   So is the bright moonlight. There may be wolves and bears at night in Altay, and walking in the wild is dangerous. But if the bright moon is in the sky that night and the moonlight illuminates the way home, I feel like I have nothing to fear. In addition, moonlight and sunlight are like a pair of lovers. The sun rises and the moon rises, seeming to express lingering longing. This is the feeling that "Moonlight" wants to express.    Our ancestors did not have written language at first. They recorded history, praised nature and expressed their emotions through songs. Therefore, Kazakh songs sound like books and paintings. As you sing, the scenery in the songs will appear before your eyes.    Kazakhs also have many delicate and soft love songs. Last year, I asked my mother to help me translate the lyrics of some folk songs so that more people could feel the beauty of the music here. But she told me a few days later: "Son, if it were translated into Chinese characters, they would all be small animals like cows, horses, sheep, and birds. It would be different.    This is the characteristic of Kazakh music creation, which is both unrestrained and implicit. They like to use objects to describe people - the sun, moon, stars, and natural creatures, which help us express emotions and express love. In Altay, everyone can be a musician. Most people who go out to herd will carry a donbula on their back, which is like a mobile notepad. Whatever they see or think about, they can sing and record it in songs.    The vast grasslands and forests may be silent, but people's lives are very lively. When I was a child, my favorite was going to my grandfather’s ranch. He would teach me how to ride a horse, play the zither, and tame a falcon. He would take me to visit Aken (a bard who lived in the Altay region), and we would play and sing together. When the water and grass are luxuriant, there are horse racing meetings on the grassland. When I was four or five years old, I participated in the horse races, encouraged by my grandfather. At that time, the grassland was full of cheers and laughter.     In order to pursue my music dream, I left Altay for a while as an adult. When I was 30 years old, I returned to my hometown. Surrounded by mountains, everything in this city was still very slow and quiet. Even if you live in the urban area, you can still see the snow-capped mountains and forests in the distance when you open the window. When I write songs, I like to go to cabins on the ranch where I can be more connected to nature.    Altay is a place with four distinct seasons. Spring, summer, autumn and winter all have completely different feelings. Especially in winter, the sky is covered with goose-feather snow, and the thick snow reaches the calves. It is white, soft, and crunches when you step on it. The distance from my cabin to the yurt is less than one kilometer. It is inaccessible during heavy snowfall, but this road is not devoid of life - when it is particularly quiet, you can see red squirrels scurrying between the branches of the pine trees. Their footprints can also be seen in the snow. If you are accidentally hit by some snowball, and then hear a rustling sound above your head - no need to wonder, it must be these little guys.     Altay is such a magical land. It is vast and quiet, and time seems to be passing slowly when it comes here. But it is not quiet or boring. Kazakhs, Mongolians, Tatars, Tuva and other ethnic groups and many creatures in nature live together, weaving a lively and vivid world." Translation of the Presentation of Yerboli on Douban : " Yerpoli, whose full name is Yerpoli Ahemati Khan (叶尔波里·阿合买提汗), known as  叶尔波利 Ye Er Bo Li, is an ethnic Kazakh, born in 1981 in the city of Altai in Xinjiang. He started studying the Dombra, a traditional Kazakh instrument, at the age of 5. When he was 17, he joined the Xinjiang Ili Song and Dance Troupe as a professional Dombra player. He started writing his own compositions when he was 19.      In 2006, Ye Er Bo Li formed his own band, members included percussionist Xiao Yu, bassist Liao Kai, and drummer Wen Feng. The band composed several original compositions, as well as rearranging and reinterpreting many traditional Kazakh folk songs. The band released their album "Kazakh Spirit" earlier that year, categorized under World Fusion.     Yerpoli also did free improvisation, avant-garde experimentation, etc., and collaborations with musicians at home and abroad. He and his band participated in 2006 and 2007 infestivals such as "Return to the Earth - 2006 Chinese Folk Music Festival", "2006 Lanzhou International Photography Festival",  and in the years 2008-2010,  he was invited to festivals in Germany,  Taiwan, Norway, and Malaysia. Yerboli's nomadic songs and music expresses his anxiety and contemplation; the search for a unique musical direction at this junction of past and future, tradition and modernity.        There is an old Kazakh proverb: "Songs and horses are the two wings of Kazakh." Ye Er Bo Li hopes to use his Dombra and his melancholy melodies to spread Kazahk culture to every corner of the world.

Dimash Qudaibergen  singing "wild swans /鸿雁" in trilingual version, Kazakh, Mongol and Chinese, together with Mongol singer Tengri in February 2019. Footnote: although Dimash is not mentioned or featured in the mini series, he is a towering figure of Kazakh voice music. He is not Chinese, but has often performed in China.  Just to sample, here's his take on a Kazakh folkloric song performed  on October 5, 2023 on CCTV1: Dudarai (he can sing in 13 languages and can reach incredibly high notes like in this excerpt from Opera 2. He is one of the few who can sing the Diva Dance and performed a couple years ago an impressive mix of Chinese opera and modern song together with Li Yugang.) [Notice the use of Cyrillic script for Kazakh subtitles(inherited from Soviet era) on Opera 2 and in other Kazakh recordings for Dimash.]

(A 35 episodes reading in Chinese)

Mao Buyi reciting a passage from My Altai, posted Feb.2023 to Youtube

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Thank you for all the reserch work that you have done. I wish I had read your article before I watched the series.  It would have clarified some things-  Wonderful series and a great article you wrote.