Ansai Waist Drum" is a famous prose piece by Mr. Liu Chengzhang. It was first published in "People's Daily Dadi Supplement" on October 3, 1986, and was later selected into many prose anthologies; 1996 The annual income is from the collection of essays "Sheep Thinking of Clouds" published by Workers' Publishing House (this collection of essays won the first "Lu Xun Literature Award·Prose Award"). At present, it has been selected into middle school Chinese textbooks.
"Ansai waist drum" is a unique regional cultural phenomenon in the northern Shaanxi Plateau, and it is also a symbol and symbol of the spiritual outlook of the northern Shaanxi people, and all of this is related to the ancient history of northern Shaanxi. The Northern Shaanxi Plateau is an important passage connecting the agricultural peoples of the Central Plains and the grassland nomads. It has been an important border area since ancient times: during the Qin Shihuang period, General Meng Tian led an army of 300,000 to guard northern Shaanxi, building the Great Wall and straightening roads to prevent the Xiongnu from invading; during the Northern Song Dynasty, During this period, a generation of generals and civil servants such as Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, and Shen Kuo came to northern Shaanxi and led the war against the invasion of the Xixia people. The "Yansui Town", one of the nine towns in the Ming Dynasty, almost assumed the responsibility of the Great Wall in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. More than half of the northern border is defended. It can be said that "Ansai Waist Drum" is not only a clarion call in ancient times that encouraged border soldiers to charge and kill the enemy and fight bloody battles, but also a welcome song for the soldiers to triumph in battle. It is majestic, it survives death, it is full of passion and power, it is the dance and carnival of life... The scene of ancient wars with drums and gold, has disappeared forever. However, this ritual based on passion and power is deeply rooted in the ancient land of northern Shaanxi. In the countryside of northern Shaanxi, waist drum has become a form of entertainment, venting the passion of life in romance and pursuing eternal spiritual power in poetry. Since the 20th century, with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stationed in Yan'an for 13 years and the victory of the Chinese revolution, the "Yan'an Spirit" has spread across the country, and "Ansai Waist Drum", a form of square culture that was originally purely folk, has gradually entered the country. Temples have entered the vision of the whole of China and even the whole world. Not to mention how the "Ansai waist drum" became popular in Asia and Africa in the 1950s and 1960s; let alone the "Ansai waist drum" in "Yellow Earth" in the early 1980s by "fifth generation director" Chen Kaige "How to conquer the hearts of Western European audiences; that is, since the 1980s, "Ansai waist drum" has appeared in many large-scale national celebrations in our country. In a sense, the energy released by "Ansai Waist Drum" is not only the regional cultural information of this ancient loess land in northern Shaanxi, but more importantly, it has become a symbol of the Chinese nation's perseverance, high spirits, vigor and positivity. A symbol of enterprising spirit. In other words, "Ansai Waist Drum" uses grand scenes, unrestrained movements, sonorous rhythms, and exciting drum beats to express the content of the poem. For the essayist Liu Chengzhang, he was born and raised in the loess land, and he is familiar with every mountain, water, plant and tree here. More importantly, he had a profound understanding of life on the plateau, and he had a poetic and romantic feeling unique to the plateau region in his bones, and he became a "singer" and a famous romantic poet on the northern Shaanxi Plateau. In the early 1980s, Mr. Liu Chengzhang, who was middle-aged, went through the "middle-age reform" and gave up the poetry, lyrics and other creative forms he was familiar with before, and found a new artistic creation method such as prose. In fact, the core of life of his prose is still the exciting romance and the melody of "Xintianyou". When he left his hometown and came to the provincial capital, his mind flashed back to the magnificent scene of the "Ansai Waist Drum" that broke through the years and swallowed up mountains and rivers. What still lingered in his ears was the drum beat that broke out in silence on the plateau. Faced with the rapid changes in our motherland during the reform and opening up in the 1980s, how could he not be moved by it? How could he not rejoice in it? This feeling and scene transformed into what Liu Chengzhang realized every day and "something that presents a complex of reason and emotion at that moment" (in the words of the American Imagist poet Pound), that is, "ansai waist drum".
He must use the specific image of "Ansai waist drum" to convey his aesthetic feelings about life and the times, and to convey his poetic understanding of life!