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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaHandan, HebeiBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

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. Jinan (southern Hebei) shadow puppetry is an important direct descendant of Song central-plains shadow puppetry and has important links with Henan shadow puppetry.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

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. Besides the characters, stage props, tables and chairs and scenery must be carved. The main prop is the screen, popularly “liangzi”, generally three feet high and five wide, at most four by six, with white paper as the backdrop for single-person operation, and next an oil lamp to project the figures and their movements. Jinan shadow puppetry is distributed mainly across several counties and districts of Handan, Hebei; its modelling is archaic, combining carving and painting, its modelling system concise, embodying the early aspect of Chinese shadow puppetry. Its repertory is rich, its singing entirely oral without a text, its dialogue humorous and very colloquial and easy to understand, with a clear local character. Its props are chiefly the figures, the performing screen and accompaniment instruments: the band has banhu, erhu, mendi, sanxian, suona and sheng, with an electronic keyboard now added; the martial band has ban drum, war drum, big drum, big gong, small gong, big and small cymbals, mahao and bangzi. Jinan shadow troupes still keep traditional customs, basically embodying the original performing form of shadow puppetry. Jinan shadow puppetry has had a glorious history but today is in a very awkward position for survival: most shadow artists are too old to sing, middle-aged and especially young artists are few, and the shadow trunks grow fewer, some troupes having only props left with no artists, so its traditional performing skills are hard to transmit and its singing, orally transmitted repertory and carving methods face almost total loss.

Orally Transmitted Repertory (Formerly More Than Two Hundred)

Jinan shadow puppetry has a rich repertory sung entirely without a text, transmitted orally; by statistics from six counties of southern Hebei the performed repertory has fallen from more than two hundred to more than thirty.

The Shadow Trunk and Rod-Handling Craft

Jinan shadow puppetry's props are chiefly the figures, the performing screen and accompaniment instruments; rod operation, dialogue and carving make up the troupe's core craft.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Jinan shadow puppetry has a long history; it is said to have formed when Beijing court shadow puppetry drifted to southern Hebei, and it is distributed mainly in southern Hebei while influencing central and northern Hebei.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Shadow puppetry is an important traditional folk art of our country; in recent years, under the impact of modern film and television, audiences and the performance market have steadily shrunk and many shadow forms face the danger of extinction, urgently needing rescue and protection. According to statistics from six counties of southern Hebei, the shadow troupes still able to perform have fallen from more than a hundred at the time of Liberation to about ten, the shadow artists from nearly a thousand to about a hundred, and the performed repertory from more than two hundred to more than thirty, with ever fewer performances and an ever narrower range. Fu Xixian (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1936 in Cheng'an, Hebei. Influenced in 1952 by the fashionable shadow performances of the day, Fu Xixian took up shadow puppetry and its making and performance, and in 1953 formally studied rod operation under the shadow artist Su Wenxiu while also learning percussion, his skill growing ever finer. In the 1950s he worked in the Shijiazhuang shadow puppetry troupe as principal rod operator and became a mainstay actor; he still performs in the towns and countryside of southern Hebei and has several times organised troupes and taught his craft. His figures are plain in modelling with masterly knife-work; his rod operation is accurate and clean and his performance wonderfully lifelike, earning him the name “Iron Rod”; his dialogue draws on catch-phrases and witty sayings, humorous and amusing; and his singing is mainly in the qingyi and xiaosheng roles, full-voiced and long-phrased, winning him many awards from local cultural departments. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Jinan shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Shen Guorui (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1934 in Cheng'an, Hebei. Shen Guorui began at ten to learn shadow puppetry and percussion from his father and teachers; he studied carving figures and rod-handling under Su Wenxiu, first-generation transmitter of the Xiyaobao village troupe of Cheng'an county, and singing under Guo Yongnian and Guo Chunrong, thus mastering many skills, and has long practised shadow performance since 1949. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Jinan shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. The figures he carves are archaic in style, exaggerated in image and highly decorative; his rod-handling is skilled and flexible, and his performances have many times won awards from the cultural departments of his county and city. Despite tight funds he built his own performance shed and ground and has trained three cohorts of successors.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Handan, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Fu Xixian · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Shenguorui · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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