Stilts-walking 踩高跷

Stilts-walking，a recreational activity in rural areas, combines dance, drama and physical agility. Using various props, performers play folk heroes or roles from popular dramas. How did Stilts-walking occurs, it is said in primitive society, people want to pick wild fruit on trees, but it is too high to get the fruit, so they tied a long stick on both legs.

 Stilts refer to a pair of long, slender poles each equipped with a raised footrest to enable the user to walk elevated above the ground, and there is an old custom called “walking on stilts”. It is a performance that employs two lengths of wooden sticks over three meters long to one’s feet and walking on them. It is said that there was once a man named Lanzi in the state of Song during the Spring and Autumn Period who entertained the first Song emperor with his feet of walking and running with two wooden poles taller than himself attached to his lower legs. In the Han Dynasty, stiltwalking, then called “stilts skill”, began to popularize among the public. In the Song Dynasty, it was changed to “stepping- stilts ”and the name “stilts-walking” was finally adopted in the Qing Dynasty. Through several thousand years of development, stilts-walking has greatly improved in style and become an important part of Chinese festive culture.

高跷是我国一项传统的游艺活动。在原始社会，人们为采摘树上的野果，就在腿上绑两根木棍增加身高，这是跷技的最初形式。

据《列子·记符》记载：春秋时宋国有个兰子的人，善跷技；战国时，喜欢跷技的艺人，游走各国。看来，这个时期高跷已经发展成一项杂技艺术了。

到了宋代，高跷技艺又有新的发展。《武林旧事》记载，两宋时期的踏跷（即高跷）技艺高超，动作惊险，扣人心弦。后来，高跷又发展为一种民间舞蹈，称高跷秧歌。高跷秧歌在紧锣密鼓中配演小戏，即高跷戏，在春节和元宵节演出，很受人们喜爱。