The Song of Picking Water Chestnuts in Nanhu Lake is a folk song created by the villagers of Xujia Village, who live by the Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing, while picking water chestnuts and singing during their work and life. The Song of Picking Water Chestnuts in Nanhu Lake is usually sung when planting water chestnuts, picking water chestnuts or fishing, and is also sung when ferrying tourists to and from Nanhu Lake. It is impossible to verify when the Song of Picking Water Chestnuts in Nanhu Lake started. The old people only know that their elders have been singing it. During the Qingming Festival, water chestnut growers rowed boats to the lake to drive piles, tied straw ropes to the piles, and surrounded the water surface in square or rectangular shapes. The water surface blocked by the straw ropes was filled with the tangled vines and the crowded water chestnut leaves, and the boats floated in the emerald green water chestnut pond, which was full of poetic and picturesque scenery. During the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when it was the season for picking water chestnuts, the girls dressed in red and purple sat in water chestnut barrels, carefully pushed aside the water chestnut leaves covering the river surface, and slowly picked water chestnuts. During the playfulness, they sang songs of picking water chestnuts, which were full of sound and emotion. The Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Songs that are often heard now include "The southeast wind blows warmly, the Misty Rain Tower is built in the middle of the lake, there are water chestnut ponds around, and boats sail along the ponds"; "The sweet-scented osmanthus blooms in August, and the sisters pick water chestnuts together. Where can they sell the water chestnuts? They sell them in the industry" and so on. After years of singing, the Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Songs have gradually formed a folk tune with a fixed singing style, usually four sentences per song. The content has been continuously expanded from planting and picking water chestnuts, with old lyrics passed down from generation to generation, and new lyrics adapted from foreign lyrics. The old man recalled: "They are all very improvisational and vivid. They will sing whatever they see, so they are full of life." Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Songs have certain regional characteristics. Because they originated in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, they were sung on boats while working on the water, and were closely connected with the water. Therefore, the tone is gentle, euphemistic, sweet, and lyrical. They are not as high-pitched and rough as northern folk songs, and are more suitable for female solo, duet, and chorus. The current Nanhu Lake has been renovated. The scene of water chestnuts being raised all over the lake has disappeared. Picking water chestnuts has become a memory of a generation, and the tune of the Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Song has gradually faded away. It was not until the 2005 National Folk Art Resource Census that the long-buried water chestnut picking song was unearthed. Now, except for a few old people in the former Xujia Village who can sing it, few people can sing it authentically, and no young people can sing it. The Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Song is on the verge of being lost. The Nanhu Water Chestnut Picking Song has been included in the second batch of Jiaxing City's intangible cultural heritage list. Information source: Text/Jiaxing City Library Photo/Nanhu District Cultural Center Information source: Text/Jiaxing City Library Photo/Nanhu District Cultural Center