The weeding gong and drum, also known as mountain gong and drum, fighting song, gong and drum, digging gong and drum, etc., is a labor production song popular in the Wuling Mountain area. It is a long song sung by the Tujia and Han people with gong and drum accompaniment during the weeding season. It is a folk art form that combines labor production with music. In June 2008, Xuanen weeding gong and drum were announced by the State Council as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage expansion projects. The Xuanen County Chronicles of the second year of Tongzhi recorded: "When cultivating the land, workers change jobs every time. In summer, weeding and hoeing, invite many people to weed together. Select those who are good at singing field songs, beat gongs and drums, and sing and sing together, which is called 'beating gongs and drums'." During the busy farming season, in order to achieve the purpose of urging workers to work, beat gongs to moderate labor and rest, and sing to express their feelings. "Inviting a good singing master is better than ten laborers." Singing at the top of your voice and beating drums with arms thrown, the atmosphere is warm. The singing masters are generally middle-aged and elderly people with local prestige. They are experts in production and singing. Carrying their "family business outfit", they stand in front of the labor team, singing and retreating according to the progress of weeding, giving orders with drum beats, and rewarding those who come first and those who come last with singing, which enlivens the labor atmosphere, pleases the labor temperament, stimulates the enthusiasm for work, and improves labor efficiency. The accompaniment instruments of gongs and drums for weeding are at least one gong and one drum, and at most horse gongs, first cymbals, and second cymbals. The program consists of three parts: inviting gods, singing praises, and sending gods off, and there are many small sections in between. Generally speaking, they sing "introduction tunes" when going to work in the early morning, sing "tea songs" when smoking and drinking tea during the second break in the morning, sing "praise songs" during the first break in the afternoon, and sing a refreshing song to encourage before finishing work. The weeding gongs and drums have rich singing tunes and changeable tunes. The singing tunes are divided into high tunes and flat tunes: flat tunes are fixed tunes; high tunes are "floating tunes" and there are no gong and drum interludes. The singing tune is a linked tune, and different singing tunes are changed according to the different working time and specific circumstances. The singing forms of the grass-pulling gongs and drums include rhymed lines, threading calls, upper and lower singing, question-and-answer songs, one singing and many people singing, etc. When singing, it often appears in the form of "threading calls", with songs and calls interspersed with each other, the tune is high-pitched, the lyrics are unique, and it is interesting. There are two types of lyrics: fixed lyrics and improvisation. The fixed lyrics in the program of inviting and sending gods are mostly based on historical figures and historical stories. Yangge is improvised, and the content is temporarily compiled according to actual needs, which is called "seeing the son and hitting the son". The structure of the lyrics is generally fixed, with five-five-seven sentences, five-five-seven-five sentences, etc. The lyric body and syntax are diverse, and the common seven-word four-sentence and five-sentence, the lyrics structure has "board" and "eye", four sentences in one board, and there are flat and oblique. The "gongs and drums" of the Haocao gong and drum are formally composed of four people. The person who plays the drums is called the "upper hand", and the people who hold the gongs and cymbals are called the "lower hand". The drum is the conductor of the gong and drum team. There is a saying that "gods are not randomly invited, and drums are not randomly beaten". Due to the different configurations of musical instruments, they are divided into civil gongs and drums, military gongs and drums, and sandwiched gongs and drums. There are more than 30 gong and drum tunes, among which the high-pitched tunes include half-sound calls, duel calls, two-joint calls, and Yangge. Pingqiang tunes include Duangong tune, Siping tune, inviting god tune, Yangge tune, etc., which have a strong local flavor. Information source: Enshi Prefecture Intangible Cultural Heritage List Atlas Information source: Enshi Prefecture Intangible Cultural Heritage List Atlas