There are many folk dances in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County, including long drum, dumanni dance, umbrella dance, guandao dance, lantern dance, butterfly dance, etc. Among them, the Yao long drum can best reflect the simple and romantic history and culture of the Yao people, as well as the personality and sentiment of the Yao people. Long drum is a typical representative of Yao folk songs and dances. During the performance, the drummer holds the drum waist of the long drum with his left hand and turns it up and down, and then claps it with his right hand, dancing and clapping. The performance forms mainly include 4-person dance and double dance. The main movements include building a house, making drums, playing drums, imitating animals, and offering sacrifices. The dance posture is vigorous and the style is simple. Some people can also dance the long drum on an eight-immortal table, beating and dancing. It is usually accompanied by suona, gongs and drums, and sometimes sings "Pan Wang Song" to add to the fun. The Yao people in southern Hunan dance the long drum accompanied by reed pipes on the 16th day of the 10th lunar month every year to pay tribute to Pan Wang. Legend has it that the ancestor of the Yao people, Panhu, went up the mountain to hunt. When he fought with a wild goat, he fell off a cliff and died on a tree. People then hollowed out the heart of the tree, peeled off the sheepskin and covered it with a long drum, and beat it day and night to worship Pan Wang. The dance movements represent the diligence and bravery of Pan Wang and his descendants in opening up Qianjiadong; the low and sad reed pipe music reproduces Pan Wang's painful groans before his death; beating the sheepskin drum surface represents revenge for Pan Wang and punishment of the goat; singing Pan Wang's song represents Pan Wang's descendants' remembrance and remembrance of their ancestors. The long drum is called "Bo Gong" in the Yao language and has a long history. The "List of Twelve Surnames of Yao People Crossing the Mountain" issued on May 3, the second year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1132) stated: "In front of the emperor's palace, the king wore a long gown with large sleeves, a long waist wooden drum, a spotted robe with a red collar, and played the pipa and sang." Based on this, the Yao people's long drum has a history of more than 800 years. "Bo Gong" has 72 sets of big beats, 36 sets of medium beats, and 24 sets of small beats. There are actions such as felling wood, sawing boards, building houses, erecting buildings, production, hunting, etc., which are indispensable performance activities when worshiping Pan Wang. In the old days, the Yao people had to "play Gong" when they went to the government office to file a complaint. Now, every time there is a wedding, a festival, or a harvest celebration, the Yao village, men, women, old and young, gather together to "play Gong". Long drums are divided into three types according to their shapes: small, medium and large. The small long drum is also called the short drum, which is about 70-90 cm long, with a drum waist diameter of 45 cm and a drum head diameter of 810 cm at both ends; the medium long drum is also called the long waist drum or yellow mud drum, which is about 110-130 cm long, with a drum waist diameter of about 1520 cm and a drum head diameter of about 2530 cm at both ends; the large long drum is also called the competition drum, which is about 180-200 cm long, with a drum waist diameter of about 2025 cm and a drum head diameter of about 3040 cm at both ends. Long drums are usually made of sand tung wood, and the drum head is covered with cow or sheep skin. It is about 1.2 meters long, small in the middle and large at both ends, one of which is slightly larger by one third. The wooden heart is hollowed out, and the two horns are covered with refined yellow sheepskin, and then 6 to 8 dyed hemp ropes are used to tighten the two yellow sheepskins, and then painted with red, yellow, white and other colors, and painted with dragon and phoenix patterns to beautify the drum body. When dancing, the dancers tie the two "drum necks" with a ribbon, hang them on their shoulders, and cross them across their waists. They use their right hand to make a palm and their left hand to hold a bamboo piece to beat the drums respectively. With the beat of the music, a sonorous sound of "唪啪唪墆" is emitted. If more than 4 people beat the drums, with the beat of the music, a thick and exciting sound of "裂啪放平" is emitted. If accompanied by ox horns, 鶴, and suona, it is like the ancient battles in formation, with drums and horns roaring, mountains and valleys echoing, and inspiring people. Long drums are divided into "single dance", "double dance", "group dance" and other types. It has 72 performance routines, and each of them is divided into several animal details such as "starting the hall" and "moving the hall". Its action characteristics are rough, brave, unrestrained, strong, vigorous, sturdy and free and easy. Whether it is jumping, leaping, squatting, turning or rotating, flipping, jumping, jumping, jumping up and so on, they all show the Yao people's passionate, unrestrained, strong and brave character characteristics. The drumming movements of the long drum mostly express production and life content, such as building houses, plowing fields, imitating the movements of animals, etc., with vivid images and full of life. Drumming can be divided into civil and martial arts. Civil movements are soft and slow, while martial arts are rough and bold; some people fight against each other, or a large group of people fight in a circle, with a warm atmosphere and loud drum sounds. Most of the long drums reflect the production struggles and living customs of the Yao people, and reflect the thoughts, feelings and ideals of the Yao people, with a unique style of the Yao people. In terms of performance form and routine, they fully express the character characteristics and temperament of the Yao people. The dance movements are rough, brave, unrestrained, vigorous, and free and easy; the rhythm is bright and agile. The dance vocabulary imitates climbing up and down mountains, crossing streams and valleys, cutting trees and transporting wood, fighting dragons and subduing tigers, etc., with vivid images and easy to understand at a glance. Yao dances are almost all mass and square dances, and they all have certain props, such as long drums, flower drums, ox horns, parasols, etc., which constitute the style of this ethnic group, which is popular among the masses and easy to spread. Therefore, there are songs and dances on various occasions such as festivals, weddings, religions, and funerals, which are very lively. The Yao long drum dance is a festive dance. On traditional festivals such as "New Year", "Shuagetang" on the 16th day of the 10th lunar month, or on festive occasions such as celebrating a good harvest and congratulating newlyweds, young singers improvise and dance, with a hundred responses, and the momentum is magnificent and spectacular. The Yao people's long drum dance is mostly held on the third day of the third lunar month, the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, and the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month. The most popular festival is the "Panwang Festival" of the Yao people on October 16. "Returning Panwang's Wish" means making a small wish every three years and a big wish every twelve years; the long drum is played for three days and three nights for a small wish, and seven days and seven nights for a big wish. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, such activities were organized by clans with the same surname. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was organized by villages, and was not limited to the above-mentioned festivals. Long drums can be played on National Day, Spring Festival or when celebrating the harvest. Due to the time difference when the Yao people entered the Jianghua area and the different geographical environment, many forms of long drums have evolved: Pangu long drum, Lusheng long drum, sheep horn short drum, gong and sheng long drum, etc. Pangu long drum is popular in the Weizhukou area of Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. It is a dance performed in the "returning a wish" ceremony to worship Panwang. In addition to inviting two long drum players, four singers (two men and two women) were also invited to sing "Pangu Song" with the Yao people's "Lahua" as the song and dance music. The entire "repaying a vow" ceremony is divided into "1", "falling off the horse", "opening the gate of heaven", "recruiting soldiers", "suing the teacher", "dividing into sections", "removing seedlings", and "surrounding vows". Pangu long drum dance is only performed in "1" and "surrounding vows", accompanied by gongs and drums, and the dance steps are slow and steady. Sheep horn short drum dance is popular in the Pingdi Yao area of Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. It is performed by seven people, one person holding a Chao Hu or a cow horn to lead the dance, two people holding sheep horns, and four people holding short drums, singing and dancing, singing the song "Wild sheep sled, wild sheep sled", interspersed with each other, and there are two other accompaniments of flutes. Two drums are hung on both sides of the dance floor, and the drums are beaten according to the rhythm of the music to set off the atmosphere. Lusheng long drum dance is popular in the Gaotan area of Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. It is performed by seven people, one person holding a Chao Hu, blowing a cow horn to lead the dance, two people blowing Lusheng, two people playing long drums, and one person playing gongs. The performers dance around a square table. The whole dance is divided into five sections: "welcoming the saint", "starting to worship", "walking", "plum blossoms", and "joyful drums". After each dance, the leader shouts: "Se----Se Mayou", then beats the gongs and drums and walks in a circle. The movements are rough, the scene is lively, and the smell of the mountains is strong. The gong-sheng long drum dance is a collective dance performed by the Lingdong Yao people in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County when they tune the temple. Two people play the long drum, two people blow the reed pipe, one person plays the gong, and the others follow behind with small flags, banknotes, copper bells and other props. Six girls hold flower umbrellas, sing and dance, accompanied by gongs, drums and reed pipes. Zhao Minghua Zhao Minghua, male, Yao nationality, was born on May 2, 1943 in Wenming Village, Daxu Town, Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. He followed Li Genpu to learn art since he was a child and is the fifth generation inheritor of the Jianghua Yao long drum dance. In 1985, the 30th anniversary of the county and the first Panwang Festival, the master and disciple performed the long drum dance on the table on the same stage, and won the honorary award of "passionately dedicating skills and passing on the dance style to future generations" in the region. In 1986, he participated in the first ethnic folk singing competition organized by the county and won the title of excellent singer. In 1988, he participated in the International Yao Culture Symposium held in Chenzhou. His teacher and students performed the Jianghua Yao Long Drum Dance on the same stage, which was praised by the local and foreign friends, and a picture album was published. In 1989...more>>>Zhao MinghuaZhao Minghua, male, Yao nationality, was born on May 2, 1943 in Wenming Village, Daxu Town, Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. He has been learning from Li Genpu since he was a child. He is the fifth generation inheritor of the Jianghua Yao Long Drum Dance. In 1985, at the 30th anniversary of the county and the first Panwang Festival, his teacher and students performed the long drum dance on the table on the same stage, and won the honorary award of "passing on skills with enthusiasm and passing on the dance style to future generations" in the region. In 1986, he participated in the first ethnic folk singing competition organized by the county and won the title of excellent singer. In 1988, he participated in the International Yao Culture Symposium held in Chenzhou. His teacher and students performed the Jianghua Yao Long Drum Dance on the same stage, which was praised by the local and foreign friends, and a picture album was published. 1989......more>>>Zhao Minghua, male, Yao nationality, born on May 2, 1943, from Wenming Village, Daxu Town, Jianghua Yao Autonomous County. He has been learning from Li Genpu since he was young, and is the fifth generation inheritor of Jianghua Yao long drum dance. In 1985, at the 30th anniversary of the county and the first Panwang Festival, the master and his disciples performed the long drum dance on the table together, and won the honorary award of "passing on the skills with enthusiasm and passing on the dance style to future generations" in the region. In 1986, he participated in the first ethnic folk singing competition organized by the county and won the title of excellent singer. In 1988, he participated in the International Yao Culture Seminar held in Chenzhou, and the master and his disciples performed the Jianghua Yao long drum dance together on the stage, which was praised by the local and foreign friends, and a picture album was published. 1989......more>>>