Chinese Craft Stories NATIONAL HERITAGE INVENTORY
Home / Inventory / Ⅳ-91

Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaAnshan, LiaoningBatch 2 (2008)Extension 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. Xiuyan shadow puppetry was introduced in the Ming and Qing into the Xiuyan area of Anshan city, Liaoning, and has a history of more than three hundred years. Early shadow performance took the “single shadow” form; in the Tongzhi reign of the Qing it became “liukou ying” (improvised shadow) and after the Republic evolved into “fanshu ying” (book-turning shadow), and Xiuyan shadow puppetry still keeps part of the original “liukou ying” form. After the founding of New China it developed rapidly, and by 1965 the county had more than thirty shadow trunks and more than eighty shadow artists. At present it has declined severely: in 2004 only six trunks and twenty-one artists remained, most of them over sixty.

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. Xiuyan shadow puppetry has a rich vocal music, with five ban patterns—Damanban, Manban, Liushui, Kuai Liushui and Kuaiban; in performance the roles of sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou are divided into large and small ways of singing, each with its fixed ban patterns, and the lyrics may be divided by syntactic structure into “sanganqi”, “hard singing”, “seven-character lines”, “five-character brocade”, “ten-character brocade” and “dalazui”, while the acting adopts the conventionalised methods of opera, portraying characters around the plot. Its shadow scripts are numerous with large volumes and complex content, comprising nearly a hundred traditional plays and more than twenty modern ones. Before the founding of New China Xiuyan had nineteen shadow trunks and more than forty shadow artists. Xiuyan shadow puppetry has a rich vocal music, with five ban patterns—Damanban, Manban, Liushui, Kuai Liushui and Kuaiban; in performance the roles of sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou are divided into large and small ways of singing, each with its fixed ban patterns, and the lyrics may be divided by syntactic structure into “sanganqi”, “hard singing”, “seven-character lines”, “five-character brocade”, “ten-character brocade” and “dalazui”, while the acting adopts the conventionalised methods of opera, portraying characters around the plot. Its shadow scripts are numerous with large volumes and complex content, comprising nearly a hundred traditional plays and more than twenty modern ones. Before the founding of New China Xiuyan had nineteen shadow trunks and more than forty shadow artists. Its scripts have large volumes and intricate plots; one man at the front both operates the figures and sings, able to work two or three figures at once; its figures are carved from donkey hide in bright colours with head and body well proportioned, keeping the plain and vigorous modelling character of southern Liaoning shadow puppetry.

Qin Fengxian Zhaoqin (Qin Fengxian Takes a Husband)

One of the traditional plays of Xiuyan shadow puppetry and one of the representative works commanded by the inheritor Lü Zhengye.

Xueshu Ji (The Blood-Written Letter)

One of the traditional plays of Xiuyan shadow puppetry and one of those commanded by Lü Zhengye.

Luo Tong Sao Bei (Luo Tong Sweeps the North)

One of the traditional plays of Xiuyan shadow puppetry and one of those commanded by Lü Zhengye.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xiuyan shadow puppetry is popular around Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Anshan city, Liaoning, and is an important branch of southern Liaoning shadow puppetry; early it was “single shadow”, in the Tongzhi reign of the Qing it became “liukou ying”, and after the Republic it evolved into “fanshu ying”, still keeping part of the original “liukou ying” form, with the Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County cultural centre responsible for the project's protection. Xiuyan shadow puppetry is popular around Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Anshan city, Liaoning, and is an important branch of southern Liaoning shadow puppetry, with the Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County cultural centre responsible for the project's protection and transmission.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry · Shadow Puppetry.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Xiuyan shadow puppetry struggles to survive and lacks transmitters; it is in an endangered state and urgently needs rescue and protection. Lü Zhengye (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Manchu, born in January 1962 in Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning. In 1985 he took the Xiuyan shadow artist Ding Dexian as his master, specialising in the sheng and xiao (dan) roles. His voice is bright and fresh and his singing soft and fine, praised as “not a woman singing, yet better than a woman's voice”. He commands more than twenty traditional plays and four hundred volumes, including Qin Fengxian Zhaoqin, Xueshu Ji and Luo Tong Sao Bei. He has published Xiuyan Shadow Puppetry and compiled Xiuyan Shadow Puppetry Music and Xiuyan Shadow Carving and Making. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Xiuyan shadow puppetry) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, has won five successive gold awards at Liaoning shadow festivals and several awards including at the 2013 national shadow puppetry excellent programme event, and has trained three personal disciples, bringing fresh blood to the ancient art. Xiuyan shadow puppetry struggles to survive and lacks transmitters; it is in an endangered state and urgently needs rescue and protection. Lü Zhengye (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Manchu, born in January 1962 in Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning. In 1985 he took the Xiuyan shadow artist Ding Dexian as his master, specialising in the sheng and xiao (dan) roles. His voice is bright and fresh and his singing soft and fine, praised as “not a woman singing, yet better than a woman's voice”. He commands more than twenty traditional plays and four hundred volumes, including Qin Fengxian Zhaoqin, Xueshu Ji and Luo Tong Sao Bei. He has published Xiuyan Shadow Puppetry and compiled Xiuyan Shadow Puppetry Music and Xiuyan Shadow Carving and Making. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Xiuyan shadow puppetry) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, has won five successive gold awards at Liaoning shadow festivals and several awards including at the 2013 national shadow puppetry excellent programme event, and has trained three personal disciples.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Anshan, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Lvzhengye · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。