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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaWafangdian, LiaoningBatch 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. Fuzhou shadow puppetry was brought in the Wanli reign of the Ming (1573–1620) by soldiers from Shaanxi garrisoning the north-east. It was in the Jiaqing reign of the Qing (1796–1821) that Fuzhou shadow puppetry truly became active and prevalent: at that time the “White Lotus” was widespread in the Hebei area, some shadow artists also joined it, and the Qing government, slandering them as “lantern-hanging bandits”, ordered shadow puppetry banned. Fuzhou shadow puppetry arose and developed against this background and has a history of more than three hundred years. From 1932 it was forced to stop performing, and it revived after the victory in the War of Resistance.

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. Shadow artists of Luanzhou in Hebei were forced to flow in large numbers into the north-east and thence into southern Liaoning. After national Liberation shadow puppetry in the Wafangdian area was very active; at its height the whole county had forty-three shadow troupes and more than twenty shadow artists of considerable influence among the people.

Tang Yinglie

A representative Fuzhou shadow puppetry play and a signature work of the inheritor Sun Deshen, which won a silver award at the fifth Liaoning shadow puppetry festival.

The Desheng Troupe Repertory

Fuzhou shadow puppetry is transmitted through troupes; after Sun Deshen took over as head of the “Desheng troupe” it long organised performances and trained new talents.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Judging from its content, Fuzhou shadow puppetry covers social life, praising the true, the good and the beautiful and lashing the false, the ugly and the evil, and is much loved by the local people.

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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. Fuzhou shadow puppetry has a long history and important historical and cultural value, playing a role in spreading cultural knowledge and in preserving and transmitting valuable folk historical legend, local custom and anecdotes of figures. Song Guochao (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1950 in Wafangdian, Liaoning. He is thoroughly versed in Fuzhou shadow puppetry's playwriting, directing, figure operation, figure carving, drumming and singing, keeping the genre's traditional flavour; besides organising shadow troupes to perform among the farmers he has trained new successors such as Song Guojun and Song Na. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Fuzhou shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Sun Deshen (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1950 in Wafangdian, Liaoning. From 1953 to 1962 Sun Deshen studied Fuzhou shadow performance under his grandfather Sun Xiyuan and father Sun Yong'an, learning figure operation, carving and singing; after his father's death he took over as head of the “Desheng troupe” and over decades, besides performing, has trained new talents such as Sun Fuzhu and Sun Hongbo. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Fuzhou shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. His representative works include Tang Yinglie, and he won a silver award at the fifth Liaoning shadow puppetry festival.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Wafangdian, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Song Guochao · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Sun Deshen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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