Gao Juanqin

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Gao Juanqin, Female, Han, from Haining, Zhejiang, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Shadow Puppetry (Ⅳ-91). The tradition is documented in Haining, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Shadow Puppetry in Haining, Zhejiang: At the same time its lyrics and recitation were changed to the Haining dialect, making it a regularly performed item on occasions of folk marriage, birthday celebration and prayer to the gods. The time of shadow puppetry's formation is not yet determined, but according to Meng Yuanlao's Dongjing Menghua Lu of the Southern Song it had matured and flourished by the Song at the latest, and among the shadow artists of the Bianliang pleasure quarters there were already nine men such as Dong Shiwu, Zhao Qi and Cao Baoyi. Through the Song, Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties shadow puppetry, spread across the whole country, presented a flourishing scene in the Qing. In Haining city, Zhejiang, on the north bank of the Qiantang river, there still circulates the classical genre with Southern Song style—Haining shadow puppetry. It has been performed for nearly a thousand years; by the 1930s and 1940s Haining still had more than twenty troupes, more than three hundred plays and more than one hundred and twenty actors. In the 1950s, when the Zhejiang cultural authorities were forming a troupe to perform in Beijing, a survey found that throughout the province only Haining still had skilful old shadow artists.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Gao Juanqin is anchored in the documented technical standards of Shadow Puppetry in Haining, Zhejiang. Within the documented technical tradition of Shadow Puppetry in Haining, Zhejiang: Shadow puppetry is an operatic form that cuts figures from hide or cardboard and tells stories by projecting the cut figures in lamplight. Its distribution is extremely wide, covering almost every province and region, and different local vocal styles have produced a great variety of shadow puppetry—Huaxian, Huayin laoqiang, Agong qiang and Xianban qiang shadow puppetry in Shaanxi; Huanxian daoqing shadow puppetry in Gansu; Xiaoyi wanwan qiang shadow puppetry in Shanxi; Tangshan and Jinan shadow puppetry in Hebei; Haining shadow puppetry in Zhejiang; Jianghan plain shadow puppetry in Hubei; Lufeng shadow puppetry in Guangdong; and Fuzhou and Lingyuan shadow puppetry in Liaoning. In the Wenshu hall of Yanshan temple, Fanshi, Shanxi, a Jin-dynasty mural “Picture of Shadow Play” vividly shows shadow performance in Shanxi at the time. Though there are many kinds, they differ mainly in vocal style and repertory, while figure-making and performance technique are broadly similar. Figures are generally made by scraping the hair and blood from oxhide, donkey hide or sheepskin, processing it to semi-transparency and then carving and colouring it, stressing fine knife-work and lifelike modelling. A figure is divided into head, body and four limbs, all in profile, the head with helmet or cap, the body and limbs dressed, baked and pressed flat over a firebrick after oil colouring. In performance the head is inserted into the body, the body joined to the limbs, and three bamboo rods fixed to the body and two hands for operation. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Opening Pieces (Excerpt Martial Plays) and Main Plays": Haining shadow puppetry performance divides into “opening pieces” and main plays, the inheritor Xu Ernan being skilled in various openings. "Tiaotou (A Rod-Operation Showpiece)": One of Haining shadow puppetry's rod-operation techniques, the most brilliant in Xu Ernan's hands, with clean movements and brisk rhythm in combat scenes. "Haining Shadow Figure Modelling (Southern Song Style)": Haining shadow figures are made according to the genre's own modelling features and colour requirements; the inheritor Wang Qiansong made more than a thousand figures for troupes in many places.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Gao Juanqin was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Shadow Puppetry, with Haining, Zhejiang as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Shadow Puppetry in Haining, Zhejiang: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Haining, Zhejiang as its declared area, and Haining Cultural Center (Haining Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Gaojuanqin (Haining, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Gaojuanqin · China ICH Official Archive