Hua Tiao has been popular in the areas of Futian River, Shuangmiaoguan and Lianglukou in Beishan, Macheng County since ancient times. It is a folk song and dance art with a unique artistic style in Hubei Province that is deeply loved by the masses. According to the oral accounts of Shuangmiaoguan folk artists Liu Shibin and Wang Zhengyuan, Hua Tiao has a long history. Legend has it that since the construction of Shuangmiaoguan Temple in the Tang Dynasty, a grand temple fair has been held on the 15th day of the first lunar month and the 18th day of the fifth lunar month every year. At that time, there were many people participating in the temple fair, which was very lively. Some prayed to the gods, some did small businesses, and some performed various folk arts. In order to express their wisdom and talents, the working people of Shuangmiaoguan created Hua Tiao songs and dances when they went to the temple fair. At first, they just carried bamboo baskets for picking tea seeds, inserted various wild flowers, and sang while walking. The content of the singing was full of feudal superstition. Later, with the fairs year after year, Hua Tiao was constantly sorted out and gradually formed a complete performing art that expressed the working people. The performance form of Hua Tiao: It was originally performed by three groups of Dan, Chou and Nvchou. The female dancer carries a load of flowers in the middle, while the clown and the female clown stand on both sides. They dance to the percussion music, changing their positions while dancing, until the three people form a triangle, then the music stops and they start singing, dancing while singing. The dance movements are divided into three aspects: the first is the basic steps, the female dancer walks on tiptoe, the clown walks in staggered steps, and the female clown walks in Yangko steps. The second is to flexibly perform movements according to the content of the performance. The third is to use the characteristics of the guide to perform artistic performances. The costume guide of the flower pick: the female dancer wears a flowery dress and green pants, with a red ribbon tied around her waist, carrying a beautiful flower pick on her shoulders; the clown wears a flowery jacket and wide-legged pants, holding a bamboo board in her hand; the female clown wears a large-breasted dress, with red carrots hanging from her ears, and a broken cattail leaf fan in her hand. The artistic characteristics of the flower pick: 1. The form is flexible, and the guide is simple and beautiful. There are not many people performing the flower pick, and they can perform in rice fields, hillsides, streets, alleys, squares, and stages. During the performance, a girl carries a flower pole and walks briskly, making the pole glitter and the flowers sway in the wind, like a fairy walking in the flowers, giving people a beautiful enjoyment. 2. The content is healthy and full of stories. The content of the performance mainly reflects the love story of rural young men and women pursuing freedom of marriage, inspiring people to fight against feudal arranged marriages. 3. The sentence pattern is eclectic. The lyrics of the flower pole have five sentences in each section, but when singing, due to the development of the mood of the lyrics, the first sentence is repeated, plus two sentences of one question and one answer, a total of eight sentences, which the artist calls "grabbing eight sentences". 4. The style of the song is passionate and gentle, cheerful and pleasant. The whole song is divided into eight phrases and two sections, with a unified style and a strong Dabie Mountain folk flavor. After liberation, under the guidance of the party's literary and artistic policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred flowers bloom, bringing forth the new through the old", Macheng Flower Piao has been inherited and developed. In 1955, Macheng held a county-wide folk art festival. The Futianhe District Art Delegation came to the county for the first time to perform the flower pole, which was well received and praised by the masses. Then the county cultural center sorted out the Hua Tiao, changed the unhealthy words and phrases, changed the image of the clown, beautified the props, that is, changed the ugly men and women into young men and women, changed the broken cattail fan into a silk fan and added a square scarf, which not only maintained the basic form and style of the original Hua Tiao, but also reflected the spirit of the times and the appearance of the characters. In 1957, Hua Tiao proudly attended the Hubei Provincial and Central Folk Art Festival and won the Outstanding Song and Dance Award. Now, it has become a traditional custom for the people of Macheng to perform Hua Tiao during festivals. In short, Macheng Hua Tiao, a flower of art that has been cultivated and irrigated by the wisdom and hard work of generations of working people and art gardeners, will never wither in the bright spring of socialism. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)