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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaHaining, ZhejiangBatch 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. In Haining city, Zhejiang, on the north bank of the Qiantang river, there still circulates the classical genre with Southern Song style—Haining shadow puppetry. It has been performed for nearly a thousand years; by the 1930s and 1940s Haining still had more than twenty troupes, more than three hundred plays and more than one hundred and twenty actors. In the 1950s, when the Zhejiang cultural authorities were forming a troupe to perform in Beijing, a survey found that throughout the province only Haining still had skilful old shadow artists.

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.

Opening Pieces (Excerpt Martial Plays) and Main Plays

Haining shadow puppetry performance divides into “opening pieces” and main plays, the inheritor Xu Ernan being skilled in various openings.

Tiaotou (A Rod-Operation Showpiece)

One of Haining shadow puppetry's rod-operation techniques, the most brilliant in Xu Ernan's hands, with clean movements and brisk rhythm in combat scenes.

Haining Shadow Figure Modelling (Southern Song Style)

Haining shadow figures are made according to the genre's own modelling features and colour requirements; the inheritor Wang Qiansong made more than a thousand figures for troupes in many places.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

At the same time its lyrics and recitation were changed to the Haining dialect, making it a regularly performed item on occasions of folk marriage, birthday celebration and prayer to the gods.

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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. But to this day the few surviving old artists are all over seventy and successors are lacking, so it has become one of the traditional folk art projects in urgent need of rescue. Xu Ernan (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1932 in Haining, Zhejiang. In 1995 he joined the Xieqiao town shadow troupe and in 2003 became the lead operator (head) at the Haining Yanguan customs street, performing ever since. He is skilled in various opening pieces (excerpt martial plays) and main plays; the figures he operates have clean movements and brisk rhythm in combat scenes, his “tiaotou” technique being the most brilliant, while in civil plays the xiaodan's movements are graceful and finely drawn. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Haining shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Wang Qiansong (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): in 1979 he began learning figure-making from the old artist Lang Zili, at the same time undertaking the rescue of Haining shadow puppetry, mobilising seven old artists to revive the Xieqiao town shadow troupe and taking charge of figure modelling. Over more than twenty years, based on Haining shadow modelling features, laws of change and colour requirements, he made more than a thousand figures and large numbers of animal, plant and building props for shadow troupes in many places, his works collected by the Shanghai Museum, the Shanghai Art Museum and the Haining Museum. Male, Han, born in March 1934, died in September 2013, a native of Haining county, Zhejiang; a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Haining shadow puppetry) in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. He trained students such as Zhang Ying, Xu Luyan and Chen Jie, nurturing successors for Haining shadow figure-making.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Haining, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Xu Ernan · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Wang Qiansong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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