Ge ce, the songbook
Long narrative texts in seven-syllable lines, four lines to a verse, sung unaccompanied; women used to sing them over their needlework.
Pronunciation gē cè｜Craft and performance｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
Chaozhou songbook names both the book and the way of chanting from it. Lines run to seven syllables, four to a verse, the first line carries the rhyme and the rhyme turns between verses; the voice is bare, with no instrument behind it.
Most sung narrative lives in memory; this one lives in the book. The singer holds the volume and reads as she goes, which is why so many texts survive and the manner of singing scattered so quickly.
When you see it
Formerly at home, in the embroidery room, at the mouth of a lane, women singing while their hands worked, one book lasting several evenings. In June 2008 it entered the second national list of intangible heritage as an extension item, number Ⅴ-34, category sung narrative.
Words easily confused
The songbook is a text chanted; Chao opera is impersonation with a script. Stories from the songbooks were often taken up and adapted for the stage, so the two draw on the same stock of tales in different forms.
Read next: The songbook: seven syllables, four lines.
Same group: Chao opera, Chaozhou music, the Chaoshan speech.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026