Chen Weiqun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Chen Weiqun, Male, Han, from Shanghaimuoujutuan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Puppetry (Ⅳ-92). The tradition is documented in Shanghaimuoujutuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Puppetry in Shanghaimuoujutuan: Shanghai-style puppetry centres on the city of Shanghai and formed in the middle of the twentieth century, its forerunner traceable to the Red Star Puppet Peking Opera Troupe of Taixing, Jiangsu; because Shanghai was a modern operatic wharf where rod and marionette puppets of Jiangsu and Zhejiang gathered and blended with spoken drama, song-and-dance and film, it formed a Shanghai-style aspect taking the strengths of every school yet with a character of its own. In the early twentieth century marionette and bag puppetry entered Shanghai's entertainment venues. In the 1950s three rod-puppet troupes and five marionette troupes from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region enlivened the Shanghai puppet stage. In 1960 the Shanghai Puppet and Shadow Theatre was formed on the basis of the Red Star Puppet Peking Opera Troupe and in 1962 renamed the Shanghai Puppet Theatre.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Chen Weiqun is anchored in the documented technical standards of Puppetry in Shanghaimuoujutuan. Within the documented technical tradition of Puppetry in Shanghaimuoujutuan: The Red Star Puppet Peking Opera Troupe of Taixing, Jiangsu, established itself in Shanghai with fine art. The Shanghai Puppet Theatre draws on the strengths of Chinese and foreign stage art, inheriting and developing the features of China's various traditional puppets and the Shanghai-style puppet art. Not confined to traditional opera, it draws more on other dramatic performance modes, and on the basis of rod puppetry creates new kinds of puppets, with a stage style all its own, having created a body of plays much welcomed by audiences, among which The Tall Ivan for the first time placed human and puppet together on the puppet stage, while Nezha God and the Titanians and The Toad and the Goose won the Ministry of Culture's “Wenhua New Repertory Award”. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Tall Ivan": A Shanghai Puppet Theatre work that for the first time placed human and puppet together on the puppet stage. "Nezha God and the Titanians": A Shanghai Puppet Theatre work winning the Ministry of Culture's “Wenhua New Repertory Award”. "The Toad and the Goose": A Shanghai Puppet Theatre work winning the Ministry of Culture's “Wenhua New Repertory Award”. "Taibai Writes Drunk": A play in which the inheritor created the stage technique of a puppet wielding the brush and writing swiftly, enriching puppet art's expressive power.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Chen Weiqun was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Puppetry, with Shanghaimuoujutuan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Puppetry in Shanghaimuoujutuan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Shanghaimuoujutuan as its declared area, and Shanghai Muou Troupe Co., Ltd. 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. Chenweiqun (Shanghaimuoujutuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Chenweiqun · China ICH Official Archive