Heyang Tiaoxi is an intangible cultural heritage protection project in Shaanxi Province. It belongs to the nature of community opera. There is no singing during the performance, no string accompaniment, only gongs, drums, cymbals and suona. The performers use "speaking" and "chanting" to complete the "singing" and "speaking" tasks. The main way to communicate with the audience is the relatively mechanical ancient Han ethnic dance movements. Tiaoxi repertoires are mostly "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", "Investiture of the Gods", "Yang Family Generals" and other martial arts content, and there are also such as "Agate Cup", which is called "literary dance". The lines of the Tiaoxi script are concise and can be appreciated by both the elite and the masses. Most of them are four sentences and seven words. Heyang Tiaoxi is also called "stepping drama" or "miscellaneous drama". It is popular in Heyang, Hancheng, Dali and other counties in the eastern part of Guanzhong, and Zhouzhi in the western part of Guanzhong is also popular. As a Han folk art, Tiaoxi has no professional classes and has always been organized in the form of rural community drama. The place where Tiaoxi is popular is called Tiaoxi Nest. There are theater boxes and theater stages in the nearby villages. The atmosphere of competing with each other is very popular. The actors are all villagers from the village. Heyang Tiaoxi was founded in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties. Anxi Hou, a Hanlin in Heyang during the Qing Dynasty, wrote in a poem: "Dance has entered the spring stage, tracing back to the Jin Dading period. The cymbals and drums convey care, and the times are harmonious and the year is good." According to the oral accounts of Dang Zhengjie and other old Tiaoxi artists in Xingjiazhuang Village, Heyang, the village has Tiaoxi performances that can be traced back to the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573-1619). At that time, there was already a famous Tiaoxi artist Dang Guiyi in the village. During the Tianqi period (1621-1627), there were also Dang Yiping and others who were famous for performing Tiaoxi in the village. During the reigns of Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1736-1820), not only did the Heyang area produce Dang Jiubao, Dang Linzheng and other skilled performers of jumping opera, but also the two brothers Xu Liantang (also known as Bingjian) from Xinli Village, who once entered the theater as Hanlin and Gongsheng, dressed up as male and female actors, and performed jumping opera on the same stage with the villagers, which became a legend. During the reigns of Emperor Daoguang and Emperor Xianfeng (1821-1861), Heyang jumping opera was most prosperous. There were more than 30 opera clubs in the villages along the Yellow River in Heyang alone. With Xingjiazhuang and Xinli Village as the center, it was widely popular in Songjiazhuang, Yuezhuang, Nanyizhuang, Beiwuren, Fangzhen, Baiban, Dongwang, Nanshun Village, Beishun Village, Kunlong and other villages and towns. In addition, it also spread to Zhichuan Town in Hancheng in the north, Lizhuang in Chaoyi in the south, and Siqian and Yeshan in Chengcheng in the west. Xingjiazhuang Tiaoxi is divided into four groups: East, West, South, and North. The West Group is good at literary drama, and the other is famous for martial arts drama. Each group has different repertoires and styles. Outstanding artists include: Li Youcai in the Daoguang period, Dang Zuoliu in the Xianfeng period, Dang Wanshou in the Tongzhi period, and Dang Tiegou in the Guangxu period. After the Revolution of 1911, warlords fought each other, and the activities of Tiaoxi groups gradually decreased. Except for a few villages and groups such as Xinli Village in Dongxiang, Heyang, and Xingjiazhuang, the Tiaoxi activities in other villages and groups disappeared. During the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, there were frequent wars along the Yellow River, and the rural economy was severely damaged. Tiaoxi groups were almost extinct, and only Xingjiazhuang could still perform. Many distinctive repertoires were also discontinued one after another. As the famous "Bo Shuai" of Xingjiazhuang said in his self-written "Spring Official Words" during the Spring Festival of the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946); "Last year, Guo Erdan died, and it was difficult to dance "Baishuitan" in the future. This year, Runchu died, who can dance "Ningwuguan", "Since then, although the art of dancing has been passed down, there are few plays and poor skills, which is difficult to compare with the past. In the spring of 1949, Heyang was liberated. At the military party, the Xingjiazhuang dancing society performed the mythical martial arts play "Flame Mountain". In 1957, the village participated in the third Shaanxi Folk Music and Dance Conference and performed the mythical play "Collecting Red Boy", winning the first prize for collective performance, two second prizes for individual performances and the Advanced Award for excavating and sorting out folk art. In 1963, Nanyizhuang resumed the traditional program, which lasted for two days and three nights. In 1979, Xingjiazhuang resumed the performance of "Old General Victory", "Fighting Ma Chao" and "Fighting Panhe" and other repertoires. In 1982, the performances of "Collecting Fishery Taxes" and "Yan Qing Fighting" were performed, and a group of young actors were trained, giving this ancient opera a new artistic life. Heyang Tiaoxi replaces singing with chanting. Regardless of male or female roles, the singing is like chanting poems and lyrics, with only a few simple tunes. Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou all use their own voices, using ups and downs to distinguish joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; the singing segments are either long or short, and there is no complex melody. The characters are mainly portrayed by distinct dance movements, with few dialogues and lyrics. Tiaoxi has no string accompaniment, and mainly uses percussion instruments, with one rural community fire drum, two large gongs, a pair of large cymbals, and two to three small drums. The only music for the stage is a pair of large suonas, which are specially used for accompaniment when entering, stepping on, and leaving the stage. Heyang Tiaoxi has a relatively rich repertoire, and more than 100 copies have been collected since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Villages are different, and communities are different. It is said that there were originally 500 to 600 repertoires for square dance, and about 300 for stage dance. Most of them are large plays with complete stories and rigorous structures. Most of the stories come from the novels such as "Investiture of the Gods" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". These plays are mainly martial arts plays, such as "Out of Qishan", "Pingwei Map", "Seven Captures of Meng Huo", "Qi Guo Chaos", etc. The second is the literary drama repertoire that mainly reflects love stories, such as "Yi Zhong Yuan", "Ten Talents", "Hun Ge's Trouble in the House", "Shengxian Bridge", etc., which are known as "Siwen Opera". Among them, "You Lieguo", "Le Yi's Attack on Qi", "Qingdingzhu" and other plays, although the names of the plays are the same as other types of plays, the content and structure are very different, and they are unique to Tiaoxi. In addition, there are the gods and Buddha plays that are performed at the beginning. This type of play has many special performance movements that are not found in other plays. In Tiaoxi repertoires, each song (chant) lyrics is based on four sentences, and up to eight sentences; the "introduction" on the stage is two sentences; the poem at the end is often four sentences. The lyrics in Tiaoxi are not called "singing", but "saying" or "chanting". The main words and sentences are seven-word, followed by ten-word, and four- and six-word patterns, which are only used as "introductions" and "poems"; occasionally there are parallel forms or "oleander" word patterns. The roles of Tiaoxi include Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, with Sheng and Jing being particularly important. The performance is mainly dance, with each move and form following the rhythm, simple movements, and a rough and heroic style. There are four main performance routines, namely "Shang Shi", "Cai Chang", "Pao Chang" and "Sha Zhan". Shang Shi is the most basic foundation for every actor who learns Tiaoxi. With the beat of gongs and drums and the accompaniment of suona, step by step and move according to the beat. All kinds of roles are exactly the same. The Shang Shi must step on fourteen drum beats (bars), step on all four corners, and step on fifty-six drum beats (bars). Due to the different positions of Shang Shi, it is also called hand gestures and concave positions. The left and middle of the stage are flat positions, and the right side of the stage is concave positions. The basic movements of the male role's upper posture are the upper road frame, standing posture, opening the bow, and spreading the wings. The female role's upper posture is light and based on the performance movements similar to ancient soft boxing. Sun Wukong's upper posture is called the monkey posture, which is mainly based on monkey boxing. The audience regards the upper posture as a "greeting gift". If the posture is not good, it will weaken the artistic effect. After the upper posture, the tent is raised, the seat is taken, the lines are spoken, and the chanting is performed. The running field is a martial arts performance program, which is divided into three types: running half-court, running full-court, and running flower field. In some places, running field is also called "running wheels". Martial arts is called "killing battle", which has forms such as "picking poles", "disc knives", "disc whips", and "opening four doors". Artists pay attention to solid skills, not out of line punches, real guns and real knives, and open fighting and real killing. Whether it is a fight or a group fight, it must strictly follow the rules and regulations, and it is not allowed to walk in a chaotic formation or dance arbitrarily. It must be accurate and sound, and not set up empty frames to show real skills and make it durable. If there is a mistake and the opponent is injured, only compensation is allowed, not lawsuit. Since the Republic of China, it has been gradually changed to use stage props. Stepping on the stage is a purely literary performance program, including the performances of Guimendan, Qingyidan, Xiaosheng, Xusheng, and Emperor. One step and one beat, with gongs beating the rhythm and suona accompaniment. After the program performance, the couplets are read and the lyrics are chanted. The percussion instruments beat two beats between each sentence. Heyang Jumping Opera is a mass performance activity, which is performed once a year and routinely during the Spring Festival. On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, each community beats gongs and drums, which is called "beating Danzi" to create an atmosphere, encourage the villagers, and urge the "Zujia" (person in charge of the community drama) to organize performances and discuss matters such as fund raising. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, without waiting for dawn, the "Haojia" (famous performance actor) lifts gongs and drums and "beats Danzi" in the courtyards of each household in the community. It is commonly known as "suppressing the poor ghost" or "breaking the five evil spirits." That afternoon, the "Niu Luo Team" stage began. Each community gathered gongs and drums in the center of the village, demarcated the area boundaries, and each community occupied one side, competing in beating and encouraging each other. The next day, square dancing began, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The number of dances each time was determined by the size of the village and the number of branches. Each community had to perform at least one dance. Square dancing is a pure martial arts drama, all performed with dance movements. Before the Lantern Festival, it entered a climax until the 13th day of the first lunar month, when the dumb dance ended. Starting from the 14th day of the first lunar month, stage dancing was held. At the beginning of the performance, gongs and drums are played to attract people to gather; then the "boshi" or "laojia" or "shimou" plays the role of "chunguan", wearing scarlet official clothes, a round-winged gauze hat, and a tofu-shaped ugly face painting, and comes on stage with a flower fan in his hand. There is no fixed rule for the lyrics, which are improvised or self-composed, or they express local scenery and scenic spots; or they tell about the hardships of farmers' livelihoods; or they talk about the oppression of officials and gentry, and the officials name and scold them, and ridicule them at will; or they talk about the cast, introduce each person's specialty and forte. Take the opportunity to express your feelings and feel happy. This form is similar to the "fumo opening" in Yuan and Ming dramas and the "introduction of drama" in Song dramas. Before the performance on stage, whether it is a newly built stage or an existing theater, superstitious dramas must be performed before the spring official appears, such as "biting the chicken altar", "the blessing of the heavenly official", "the five ghosts making trouble", "Kuixing points the fight", etc. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)