Enduring melodies from the Loess Plateau region The yellow soil of the Loess Plateau retains its primitive form, still largely unsculpted by the hand of man, stretching out all the way to the horizon. Through the muddy-yellow soil percolates muddy-yellow water. This soil and water have given rise to “the people of the yellow skin,” as Chinese refer to themselves. This is the place of origin of the “children of Yen Ti and Huang Ti” (two of the earliest Chinese rulers; Huang Ti literally means “the Yellow Emperor”), and homeland of the sage-emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu. Yet this is not particularly good land. Plants begin to wither after only a few days without rain, for the loose soil is poor at retaining moisture. If there is a downpour, the topsoil gets washed away and disastrous floodwaters cascade down from the mountains. This is a world made by a creator gone mad. It is a land where the Chinese people have suffered great hardship, with their faces pointed down at the soil and their backs feeling the heat of the sun, living in caves on yellow water and yellow grain, working all day for a mere mouthful of rice. Yet, while bad times were more common than good, and despair more common than hope, the Chinese people never gave up on this land. Instead, they endured, uncomplaining, making the best of things. When things got too rough they would sing out to heaven in unrestrained melodies and freely composed lyrics, in the same rough, powerful character as possessed by the Loess Plateau itself. To overcome the monotony of life, they would pound their waist drums and dance with all the violence and vitality of the Yellow River. With their voices and their bodies they demonstrated that they were indomitable in spirit, unwilling to admit defeat before the often malignant forces of nature, and determined to hold onto this land from which Chinese civilization would ultimately develop.