The Yi nationality has a long cultural tradition, and folk songs and dances have been held for a long time. Duan Xianwang, a young man from Fenghuang Village, Maitre County, made the first generation of big sanxian on the basis of the tubular small sanxian.
In 1930, Zhang Chongren, a young man from Lanniqing Village in Xishan, made the second-generation big sanxian. Since then, he used the big sanxian to accompany dance music, which spread to every village in Axi. Since then, Shi Fenglin, a folk artist of the Yi nationality, etc., have reformed and standardized the big sanxian, and it has become a widely popular Yi nationality big sanxian.
In the summer of 1946, most of the teachers and students of the Southwest Union went to Lunan to organize the Guishan Yi dance team, and they went to Kunming to perform, making the folk song and dance "Axi Dance" on the urban music stage for the first time. Today, this kind of cheerful dance (jumping to the moon), also known as "Gasbi" in Yi language, means joyful dance, and has become a traditional folk dance of the Yi nationality, that is, the well-known "Axi Yueyue".
On the night of the festival, the bright moon hangs high, and in the empty field outside Yijiazhai, young men and women form a circle with a tall fire burning in the middle. The young man dances with the girl while playing the big three strings. The main movements include running three steps, stopping two beats, lifting one foot forward and jumping in place.