Xu Ernan

02-0671Shadow PuppetryTraditional OperaHaining, ZhejiangBatch 2 (2008)

Lineage & School of Heritage

At twelve Xu Ernan began learning shadow puppetry from his father, took the stage at fifteen, and from 1949 to 1951 ran a shadow puppet troupe of his own. He dictated the plot synopses of more than thirty shadow puppet scripts, an outstanding contribution to the documentation of Haining shadow puppetry. He was awarded the title "Zhejiang Provincial Folk Artist" and is the only transmitter of Haining shadow puppetry.

Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire

Male, Han ethnic group, born in 1932 in Haining, Zhejiang. In 1995 he joined the Xieqiao Township shadow puppet troupe, and in 2003 he took up the leading-hand position at a fixed stage on the Yanguan Scenic Street in Haining, where he has performed ever since. He is skilled in all kinds of opening pieces, the short martial scenes, and in full-length plays. The puppets he manipulates fight with clean, brisk movements, and his "picking the head" technique is especially brilliant; in civil scenes his young female role movements are graceful in posture and delicate in execution.

Honors & Recognition

A representative bearer of Shadow Puppetry (Haining shadow puppetry), a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

References & Archival Sources

Xu Ernan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Representative Items of This Bearer

Profile

Representative item: Shadow Puppetry
Item code: Ⅳ-91
Category: Traditional Opera
Region: Haining, Zhejiang
Born: 1932.10
Batch: Batch 2 (2008)

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