The Lisu Christian Choir

Deep in a mountain of Mongkuan County, Yunnan province, an elegant Christian church echoes with the refrain of cappella psalms.

The four voices belong to a choir of the local Lisu people, one of Yunnan' s ethnic groups with a population of more than 600,000.

The Lisu are native to the Jinsha River Basin, bordering Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, but today mostly live in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture with communities in other cities and counties, including Lijiang, Dali, Baoshan, Dehong, Diqing and Chongxiong.

Mostly farmers, they have their own language, recognized in 1957.

The Lisu are renowned for their singing - folk songs and psalms - and dancing, which they perform to celebrate weddings, harvests, a successful hunt or the completion of a house.

A British missionary known locally as Fu Nengreng is remembered for bringing Christianity to the Lisu people in the late 19th Century.

He introduced the Gospel through song when he realized the Lisu people' s love of music. He compiled the Bible into poems and taught the Lisu converts to sing them in a cappella psalm style. In this way, he spread the religion throughout the entire Lisu area.

"The Lisu people learned to sing Christian psalms in their own language, which is a great combination of Western Christian tradition and Lisu culture," says Zhang Dekai, teacher of the Department of Music at Baoshan College, Baoshan city.

The Christian Choir of Mongkuan County was set up in 2000, with 10 men and 10 women aged 30 to 40. It is led by 45-year-old Qi Huayi and they sing psalms in church every Sunday.

Most members learn the scores from Qi Huayi. "Sometimes we need a whole month for a new song," Qi says.

"Men and women, the younger and the middle-aged, they all play distinct roles in the choir. Generally women take the soprano and alto parts and men the tenor and bass parts," Qi said.

"We keep practicing to create different harmonies, and in this way the song can reach the heart."

In 2006 they participated in the International Choral Festival in Beijing and were honored with a special award.

"We learn peace and tranquility in singing. It makes our lives more colorful and we love each other more," Qi says.