Classic Yi Love Song: My Younger Cousin

Author: Qie Sau Niu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: Yao Baimei is a Yi folk narrative epic poem with 1,500 lines, one of the three major works of Yi folk literature and a representative of Yi folk literature. It is widely circulated among the Yi people in Sichuan and Guizhou. The Yi version was published by Sichuan Nationalities Publishing House in 1983. In the poem, "I" falls in love with a beautiful cousin, but her parents, greedy for money, separate them. "I" can only express her longing through songs, while the cousin suffers greatly in the distance and eventually takes her own life. Yao Baimei is a tragedy with a touching plot, reflecting the desire of young men and women for love and their criticism of the feudal marriage system.