盡管海南的黎族人民沒有自己的書面語言,但他們創造了自己的口述傳統而且代代相傳。而村中一位九十歲的老奶奶被譽為“唱歌之王”。她不會講普通話,但她卻創作出成千上萬的歌曲。她確信自己肯定能將傳統民歌傳承給年輕的一代。

Although the Li people of Hainan Island don't have their own written language, they have created their own oral traditions that have passed down through the generations.
Ninety-year-old Wang Meda is called the "Singing Queen" by people in this ethnic Li village. She cannot speak mandarin, but she has created thousands of songs in "Hlai", the spoken language of the Li Ethnic Group. She's made sure to pass the traditional folk songs down to younger generations.
Ji Qiumin, Wang Meda's granddaughter, said, "My grandma used to croon a lullaby to me when I was a little girl. And it was the first folk song of our Li people that I’ve ever known. When I got older, she recorded songs with a recorder so that I could learn them."
The Li people's folk songs are rich in content. Most of the lyrics consist of seven characters, and the topics range from everyday work to star-crossed love.
Ji Qiumin also said, "Singing is a common practice for ordinary Li people, especially for folk singers like my grandma. When they work in the field, they sing. When they try to tell a story, they also sing."
For Wang Meda, singing is her lifelong career. Now in her 90s, she still teaches kids in the village to sing folk songs, as her grandmother and mother did for her.