The waving hand dance is popular in Shazi Town, Heping Town, Qitan Town, and Zhongjie Township of Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County. Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County is located in the Wuling Mountain Area of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou Provinces (municipalities), in the northeast corner of Guizhou Province, and in the lower reaches of the Wujiang River. The topography of the county is composed of high mountains, canyons, and crisscrossing hills. The complex and special geographical environment has formed the primitive farming civilization of "slash-and-burn farming" and the rich and colorful ethnic folk culture here, and has created the Tujia people here with a rough, bold, fierce, strong and indomitable character like the mountains. The waving hand dance is an ancient folk dance of the Tujia people. The waving hand dance popular in Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County is divided into big waving hand and small waving hand. In addition to multiple collective waving hand dances, the big waving hand focuses on performing military war scenes. It includes (1) charging into battle; (2) seizing enemy weapons; (3) martial arts competitions; boxing, sword and gun use, archery, bench playing, flying sticks, etc. Due to the development of history and the change of production and living style, the performance of big waving hands gradually faded out of the life stage of Yanhe Tujia people, but it can still be found in the ethnic activities that are popular today, such as fighting the sun, carrying the pole and small waving hands. The waving hands dance currently popular in Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County is mainly small waving hands, and its movements are as follows: (1) Three bows and three visits to the four directions (4/4 rhythm), on the first beat, the left foot takes a half step forward to the left. On the second beat, both hands move forward from the lower right and raise them flat in front of the chest. On the third beat, the right foot moves forward and puts it together with the left foot. On the fourth beat, both hands are raised flat and the knees are bent and squatted once. (2) Rhinoceros looking at the moon (2/4 rhythm), on the first to fourth beats, the left foot moves forward, the right hand is placed on the left shoulder, and the right hand swings naturally at the right side of the body. On the fifth to eighth beats, both feet are together and both hands swing naturally from the right side of the body to the left. Bend your knees and squat once. (3) Show elbow and swing on the same side. On the first beat, the left foot takes a half step forward to the left, the right palm is pressed on the left palm at the same level as the chest, and the elbow joint is sent out to the upper left. The second beat is the opposite of the first. On the third beat, both hands move from the lower right to the upper right, with the right hand at chest level and the left hand straight above the left. At the same time, hook the left foot, and do the opposite on the fourth beat. (4) Single-hand swing on the same side (2/4 rhythm) On the first beat, lift the foot and step forward with the right hand. On the second beat, lift the left foot and step forward with the left hand. The third and fourth beats are the same as before. On the fifth beat, both hands move from the chest to the lower left and squat with the legs bent. On the sixth beat, both hands move from the left to the upper front and level with the shoulders. The seventh and eighth beats are the opposite of the fifth and sixth beats. (5) Pirouette swing (4/4 rhythm). On the first and second beats, both arms are naturally vertical, and the center of gravity of the feet is moved. Swing to the right and then to the left twice. On the third and fourth beats, swing both arms to the right with the right foot as the axis and jump 180 degrees. Repeat on the seventh and eighth beats. (6) Stepping on the same side (4/4 rhythm). On the first beat, hook the left foot and step out. At the same time, the right hand is placed in front of the chest and the left hand dances on the left side of the body. On the third and fourth claps, swing both hands back and forth once, and at the same time, bring both feet together and bend knees twice. In addition to the above basic movements of waving hands, the Yanhe Tujia waving dance also has movements such as "sowing seeds", "spinning cotton", "cutting slag", "planting corn" and other movements that express farming activities, and movements such as "rubbing backs", "making glutinous rice cakes", "buffalo fighting", and "beating mosquitoes" that reflect the fun of life. As an ancient Tujia ethnic dance, "Waving Hands Dance" is deeply rooted in the politics, military, religion, history, production, and life of the Tujia people. It has rich cultural connotations and national characteristics and is a precious cultural heritage of the Tujia people and the Chinese nation: the waving hand dance has formed a relatively standardized, complete, and mature performance form in the thousands of years of evolution of the Tujia people; the waving hand dance has evolved along with the origin of the Tujia people, and its history is long. The history of the waving hand dance has important practical significance for studying the politics, military, economy, and culture of the Tujia people in Yanhe and its neighboring areas, and for studying the mountain culture, farming culture, and the relationship between the various ethnic groups in the Tujia area. The inheritance of the waving hand dance is the result of the Tujia people's teaching by words and deeds for thousands of years. Its general trend is: from the Ba people to the Tujia people to the present. Since the waving hand dance has its own special living environment and functional characteristics in each historical period, its inheritance must change with the development of society and the changes in production and lifestyle. As a folk dance of the Tujia people with a long history and high artistic value, by the 1980s, only a few people such as Ma Chaojin in Ketian Town in Yanhe Autonomous County had mastered some simple basic dance moves. As a dance form naturally inherited by the folk masses, it has basically disappeared. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)