中国民歌的基本体裁之一。流传分布极广，蕴藏也极为丰富。一种看法认为，凡是流传于高原、山区、丘陵及少数民族地区 [1]  ，盛行于福建、广东、广西、湖南、贵州、云南等少数民族地区。人们在各种个体劳动如行路、砍柴、放牧、割草或民间歌会上为了自慰自娱而唱的节奏自由、旋律悠长的民歌，就是通常所说的山歌。它们样具有在个体劳动中咏唱，歌腔自由舒展，自娱自乐等基本特征。一般来说，这种广义的山歌概念更有助于我们对山歌体裁艺术特色的理解。

One of the basic genres of Chinese folk songs. It is widely spread and rich in reserves. One view is that it spreads in plateaus, mountains, hills and ethnic minority areas, and prevails in ethnic minority areas such as Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The folk songs with free rhythm and long melody that people sing for masturbation and entertainment at various individual labor such as walking, firewood cutting, grazing, mowing or folk songs are commonly referred to as folk songs. They have the basic characteristics of singing in individual labor, free stretching of song cavity, self entertainment and so on. Generally speaking, this broad concept of folk songs is more conducive to our understanding of the artistic characteristics of folk songs.