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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaLingyuan, 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. In 1996 the Ministry of Culture named Lingyuan city a “hometown of Chinese folk art (shadow puppetry)”. On 17 September 1999, on seeing the several thousand juan of shadow scripts collected in Lingyuan, the former Minister of Culture He Jingzhi said “Lingyuan's shadow scripts may be the greatest in the whole country”. CCTV and Liaoning TV filmed several television works in Lingyuan, including Bitter Shadow Puppetry, Visiting Shadow Puppetry in Zouma Lingyuan, The Script Fan and the drama-packaged shadow play Flaming Mountain, among which the feature programme The Charm of Lamp and Shadow was sent to embassies and consulates abroad, and Dance of Shadows was entered in the 2004 Sino-French cultural exchange.

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. Lingyuan shadow puppetry is an important branch of northern Chinese shadow puppetry and is said to have a history of more than three hundred years. In the course of transmission and development it has formed a distinct artistic style and charm—exquisitely carved and translucent figures, wonderfully lifelike manipulation and a distinctive pinched-throat singing.

Lingyuan Shadow Scripts (Several Thousand Juan)

The several thousand juan of shadow scripts collected in Lingyuan were praised by the former Minister of Culture He Jingzhi as the greatest in the whole country; the painted “shadow register” preserves the precious craft of shadow carving.

Flaming Mountain (A Drama-Packaged Shadow Play)

One of the television works filmed by CCTV and Liaoning TV in Lingyuan, alongside the feature programmes The Charm of Lamp and Shadow and Dance of Shadows.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Lingyuan shadow puppetry is known to every household locally and is fairly influential at home and abroad; it has several times won first place at provincial and municipal shadow festivals and has given special performances for central leaders and international friends.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Lingyuan shadow puppetry is a purely folk art. Although it had a heyday, the whole city once having a hundred and twenty self-entertaining, half-farming and professional shadow troupes, at present, under the impact of modern culture and with old artists passing away one after another, it lacks successors and its rescue and protection brook no delay. Xu Jishan (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1938 in Lingyuan, Liaoning; a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Lingyuan shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Over more than forty years in the art he has long performed locally and in surrounding counties and cities, training five second- and third-generation shadow artists; the “shadow register” he painted preserves the precious craft of shadow carving and has made an outstanding contribution to transmitting Lingyuan shadow puppetry. Liu Jingchun (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1952 in Lingyuan, Liaoning. Interested from childhood in such national instruments as the erhu, sanxian and sixian, he studied sixian playing under a famous musician of the Tangshan shadow troupe and in 1980 became head of the Lingyuan county shadow troupe and sixian player. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Lingyuan shadow puppetry) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. He has many times taken part in major provincial and municipal art festivals and won awards and praise; in 1998 he formed the Jingchun shadow troupe and trained successors including his daughter and grandson, making an outstanding contribution to Lingyuan's shadow art.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Lingyuan, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Xu Jishan · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Liu Jingchun · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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