Editor's note: Hua'er, meaning flower in Chinese, is a folk music tradition deeply rooted in northwest China. The genre draws its name from lyrics that often compare young people, especially women, to flowers.

Life, work and social changes are all familiar themes of Hua'er songs, but love remains its distinctive hallmark. Its direct, passionate expression of love, showcased through soaring melodies, clear rhythms and free lyrics, is unique among traditional Chinese music styles. The genre traces its origins to the early Ming dynasty (1368-1644), when such direct expressions of love through song were uncommon.

The lyrics of two popular love songs read:

"The riverbank sees many red-billed choughs,

While the marshland is hosting wild geese;

In the field sits the pretty young woman,

A fresh peony she looks like."

"Pines and cypresses are green in summer and winter,

And iron birch trees are solid and single-minded;

If I'm no longer offering all my heart and soul,

Taizi Mountain will be set upside down in the sea."

Love songs dominate the Hua'er repertoire, with distinct regional variations emerging across different localities. The genre is most popular in China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces, as well as the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, where local farmers and herders compose songs reflecting their daily experiences.

Traditional practitioners maintain that to be an excellent Hua'er singer, one should have a good voice, be able to perform many love songs, and, most importantly, be able to sing classical and historical stories. A singer's ability to perform historical tales is considered a mark of wisdom and knowledge.

The Hua'er Festival is the most important occasion for Hua'er singers to perform and socialize. The festival, which focuses on singing and is similar to temple fairs or carnivals, is held between the fourth and sixth months of the Chinese lunar calendar, usually in May, June and July. These three months see hundreds of small and large Hua'er festivals held in different areas.

For locals, the festival offers a springtime retreat, while young people use the occasion to court the attention of potential partners through love. Hua'er singing competitions are also held at the festival, with some events gathering hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia are home to many ethnic groups, including Han, Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Bao'an, Salar, Tu and Yugur peoples, all of whom embrace Hua'er singing as part of their ethnic culture and have contributed greatly to the genre's development. Some of these ethnic groups also celebrate their traditional festivals simultaneously with Hua'er festivals.

In addition to festivals, Hua'er folk songs are commonly heard throughout daily life as farmers work their fields, herders tend their flocks, and villagers gather for banquets and travel. Performers adapt the songs for solo voices, duets or group performances, often engaging in improvised call-and-response patterns that create a cheerful, spontaneous atmosphere.

Zhang Yaxiong (1910-1990), a reporter and native of Gansu, collected over 3,000 Hua'er songs during the 1930s and published "The Anthology of Hua'er Folksongs" in 1940. His efforts were considered one of the earliest research studies on the genre.

Since the 1980s, Hua'er musicians have begun integrating the traditional genre into operas, music dramas, stage plays and TV series to combine it with modern elements. Today, Hua'er songs remain popular in cultural galas and music festivals.

"Hua'er is an important vehicle for expressing personal feelings in a social setting and cultural exchange across ethnicities," said UNESCO. It added Hua'er to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

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