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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaXiaoyi, ShanxiBatch 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. Before the Ming Xiaoyi shadow puppetry used sheepskin as its carving material, standing 58–60 cm high and popularly called the “two-foot shadow”; by the Qing the figure shrank to 42–48 cm, popularly the “five-foot shadow”, with three-year oxhide as the finest carving material. The Ming and Qing were its heyday, with more than sixty shadow troupes in Xiaoyi, after which it gradually declined. In 1956 the Xiaoyi Marionette and Shadow Puppet Art Troupe was founded, abolished during the Cultural Revolution, revived in 1978, and it has taken part in the first China Art Festival and toured Britain. In 1995 Xiaoyi shadow puppetry's warrior figures were made known to the whole country as a stamp design. Study of its formation and development helps explore the inner laws of the rise and evolution of Chinese xiqu and understand the original vocal structure of piqiang.

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. Historical records show that Xiaoyi shadow puppetry already had troupe rules and carvers in the Song and Jin, indicating it had matured then; specialists hold that it began in the Warring States and that Xiaoyi is one of the earliest birthplaces of Chinese shadow puppetry. Piqiang is its tune and, because piqiang music takes the suona as its principal accompanying instrument, it is also called “Xiaoyi chuiqiang”, one of China's earliest folk chuiqiang. Xiaoyi shadow puppetry pastes its screen with hemp paper and relies on a hemp-oil lamp hung behind the paper window to light the figures, hence also “lamp shadow” and “paper window”; the paper window is generally 1.75 m × 1.21 m, its pasting observing five strict stages—paper cutting, rough edging, matching, pasting and smoothing—so that the window is flat, wrinkle-free, snow-white and flawless.

Nao Chaoge (Uproar at Chaoge)

A commonly staged Xiaoyi shadow puppetry play and one of several dozen the inheritor Liang Quanmin has performed.

Huanghe Zhen (The Yellow River Formation)

One of the commonly staged Xiaoyi shadow puppetry plays.

Taohua Ji (The Peach Blossom Tale)

One of the commonly staged Xiaoyi shadow puppetry plays.

Zhang Yu Zhu Hai (Zhang Yu Boils the Sea)

A representative Xiaoyi shadow puppetry play that caused a sensation at the first China Folk Art Festival and was performed on the troupe's 1989 British tour.

Piqiang (Xiaoyi Chuiqiang)

The tune of Xiaoyi shadow puppetry; because the suona is its principal accompanying instrument it is also called “Xiaoyi chuiqiang”, one of China's earliest folk chuiqiang.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xiaoyi shadow puppetry is an important branch of Chinese shadow puppetry, named for its popularity in Xiaoyi city, Shanxi.

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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 extinction, urgently needing rescue and protection. Xiaoyi shadow puppetry has a rich repertory, more than two hundred scripts now being kept, wide in subject and rich in content and of great academic value. Liang Quanmin (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1932 in Xiaoyi, Shanxi. His rod-handling is solidly grounded and skilled; he can sing in both piqiang and wanwan qiang, and has staged several dozen shadow plays including Nao Chaoge, Huanghe Zhen and Taohua Ji. Zhang Yu Zhu Hai, performed at the first China Folk Art Festival, caused a sensation in the capital, and in 1989 he toured Britain with the troupe to warm praise. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Xiaoyi shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and has trained fine talents such as Wu Xing and Hao Fenglian. Li Shiwei (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947 in Jiexiu, Shanxi. He created the modelling and making for such shadow plays as Zhang Yu Zhu Hai, Liu Yi Chuanqi and Liang Pengyou, among which Zhang Yu Zhu Hai was performed at the first China Folk Art Festival to much praise. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Xiaoyi shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Xiaoyi, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Liang Quanmin · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Li Shiwei · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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