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Huagu Opera is an important part of cultural life of many Hunanese. Almost every Hunanese can hum along for a few lines, such asLiu Hai Chopping Woods,Mending Pot, orThe Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.

花鼓戏，是许多湖南人的文化记忆，比如《刘海砍樵》《补锅》《八仙过海》，几乎每个湖南人都能跟着哼上两句。

Xiaopeng: I am from a family full of art lovers. On almost every big festival, we hold our small family “festival gala”. My uncles and aunts all sing Huagu Opera almost every day and night, and I can even sing along with them some lines, like “Sister Hu, Brother Liu” (fromLiu Hai ChoppingWoods), or “pulling the wind box with the whirling sounds” (fromMending Pot).

小彭：我们家都是文艺积极分子。逢年过节都要在家里搞“文艺汇演”，那时候我家里舅舅姑姑都会唱花鼓戏，日日夜夜在家里唱，弄得我都会唱两句什么“胡大姐，刘海哥”“手拉风箱，呼呼地响”。

Xiaowen: Huagu Opera in my memory is with sounds, colors, and warmth. My grandma is a big fan of Huagu Opera. When I was a small kid, every summer evening, she would take me to see the open-air opera. There, people gathered in the square with stools. In the warm summer breeze, accompanied by gongs and drums on the stage, people ate melon seeds and watermelons when watching the show. Then there came the actors, dressed in red, blue, green, pink ... Although I was very little at the time, I can see the exaggeration and funniness of the Choujue (the clown), the cheerful and lively character of Xiaodan (the young female role), and the charm of Xiaosheng (the young male role).

小文：花鼓戏是有声音、有颜色、有温度的。那时候我外婆最喜欢听花鼓戏。儿时的夏夜，外面搭了戏台子，她就带我去看花鼓戏。人们带着凳子聚在广场上，在夏天温热的晚风里，伴随着戏台上锣鼓点儿，台下的磕瓜子和啃西瓜的声音，演员登场，红的、蓝的、绿的、粉的……虽然我那时候还小，那也能看出小丑的夸张搞笑，小旦的开朗泼辣，小生的洒脱风流！

Huagu Opera comes from the lives of Hunan people, and it nourishes the lives of them. We often see the grandpas and grannies, brothers and sisters singing Huagu operas, waving fans and handkerchiefs and demonstrating various scenes of Hunanese’s life, such as boating, carrying a load, pounding, chopping wood, forging iron, firing guns in weddings or funerals, grinding tofu, catching loaches, flying kites, catching butterflies, etc. In singing and dancing, these old and young artists not only sing out loud the happiness and energy of life, but also sing out loud with the bright voice of Hunan. They use superb artistic skills and broad vision to introduce the Huagu Opera as well as the Hunan stories to the world, and bring new vitality to it.

花鼓戏来自湖南人的生活，又滋润着湖南人的生活。我们常常看到唱花鼓戏的嗲嗲娭毑、哥哥姐姐们挥着扇子和手巾，演绎湖南人生活的各种图景，诸如划船、挑担、捣碓、砍柴、打铁、打铳、磨豆腐、摸泥鳅、放风筝、捉蝴蝶，等等。唱跳之间，不仅唱出了生活的快乐和能量，一代代的新老艺术家们还用嘹亮的湖南声音、高超的艺术技艺和广阔的视野将花鼓戏推陈出新，给花鼓戏注入新的活力，把湖南的故事唱遍了世界。

Xiaogao: Do you know the Huagu Opera version ofRolling in the Deep? That’s the fifi rst time I got to know Huagu Opera, and I would never forget how amazing it is! The singing techniques like treble, key shifting, rolling tongue are really amazing.

小高：我第一次了解花鼓戏其实是听了花鼓戏版的Rolling in theDeep，原来花鼓戏的唱腔这么惊艳，里面的高音、转音、花舌……一听就停不下来！

The sounds of Huagu Opera are also reflfl ected in Hunan dialects. The rising and energetic pitches,bright and hearty tones, and loud and clear voices all convey the spirit of Hunanese.The sounds of Huagu Opera are also reflfl ected in Hunan dialects. The rising and energetic pitches, bright and hearty tones, and loud and clear voices all convey the spirit of Hunanese.

花鼓戏的声音，也渗透在湖南方言的字字句句里：上扬婉转的声调、明快爽朗的语气、嘹亮清透的嗓门……无时无刻不传递着湖南人的精气神儿！

Xiaoliu: I could still remember when I first came to Hunan, I thought local people were a little bit aggressive, because they speak so loud and fast, and usually put on an “impatient” face. But later on I realized that this was because of their “spicy” character. This “spiciness” is not impatient or angry, but straightforward and agile. Having Hunan friends and classmates around you is just like watching talk shows, the more they “ce”, the happier you are!

小刘：我刚来湖南的时候，听这边人讲话都觉得他们可凶了，嗓门大、语速快，表情还有点儿狰狞，但后来慢慢发现这就是湖南人火辣辣的性格，这种辣其实不是凶，而是爽快直接、敏捷利落，和湖南人做朋友、同学，每天都像在看脱口秀节目，越策越开心！

In addition to the Huagu Opera, there is also a ballad that almost all Hunanese are familiar with: “Big and round moon in the sky, lighting the grandpa sitting inside; Grandpa goes out to buy vegetables, leaving the grandma stitching with needles.” What is this granny stitching? Maybe she is working on a piece of the famous Hunan embroidery, which is equally famous as Suzhou embroidery, Sichuan embroidery and Canton embroidery, well-known both at home and abroad.

除了花鼓戏，还有一首歌谣，几乎所有湖南人都耳熟能详：“月亮粑粑，豆里坐个嗲嗲，嗲嗲出克买菜，豆里坐个奶奶，奶奶出来绣花……”娭毑绣的是什么花？恐怕就是和苏绣、蜀绣、粤绣三绣并名，驰名海内外的湘绣了。

Why Hunan embroidery is so beautiful? As Li Bai wrote in his poem “The clothes are like clouds and the beauties are like flowers”, Hunan embroideries are like the clouds falling to the ground, and flowers blooming on clothes. There are more than 10 processes and over 70 kinds of stitches to make Hunan embroidery. In every single stitch, you see the delicate lines, lights and shadows, romantic charm and different shades of colors in Chinese Painting, which have more authentic texture than painting. Hunan embroidery is a special painting by using needles as brush, silk as paper, and silk thread as pigment.

湘绣的美，美在哪里？李白诗云“云想衣裳花想容”，而看到湘绣，就仿佛看到天上的云朵落到人间，世间最美的花开在衣上。制作湘绣有 10 多道工序，70多种针法，一针一线里，不仅有绘画的笔墨、色彩、神韵，又比绘画更多了立体和真实的质感，“以针为笔，以缣素为纸，以丝绒为颜色”，是不折不扣的用丝线在布匹上作画。

Traditional Hunan embroidery mostly depicts lions, tigers, squirrels, especially tigers. Modern Hunan embroidery is almost allencompassing. Flowers, landscape paintings, calligraphy, horses, birds and beasts, fifi gures, portraits are all the subjects of Hunan embroidery.

传统湘绣多以国画中狮、虎、松鼠等作为题材，其中以虎最多。现代湘绣取材包罗万象，花卉、山水画、书法、骏马图、鸟兽图、人物、肖像画……都是湘绣的题材。

We cannot deny that with the emergence of machine-printing, reproductions, and the loss of skillshave put Hunan Embroidery in a crisis. However, when we think about the past, we see our ancestors’ pursuit of beauty and dreams: after finishing their hard labor in the daytime, they still did not forget to sit down, take a rest, and sew their dreams of life into the Hunan embroidery works with every stitch and thread. People might understand that the inheritance of Hunan embroidery is not only the inheritance of an ancient technique, but also the inheritance of pursuing  beauty that still echoes in our heart in the modern time.

不可否认，随着印刷、复制技术的出现，湘绣技艺的失传让湘绣遭遇了危机。但是，当我们回首往夕，看到记忆中的湖南先民们在辛勤的劳作之余，仍不忘俯首案边，把生活的美梦缝进湘绣作品的每一针每一线里的时候，也许会明白，传承湘绣，不仅仅是传承一门古老的技术，更是传承了一份跨越时空的对美的向往和追求。

责编：田梦瑶

来源：策策连载