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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaTaian, ShandongBatch 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. Taishan shadow puppetry is one of the important representatives of Shandong shadow puppetry; from the Ming its performances were already very frequent, and from the late Qing and early Republic to the present six generations have transmitted this fine folk art.

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. Taishan shadow puppetry has a rich variety of vocal styles: it not only inherits the “mo tune” of early Shandong shadow puppetry but also widely absorbs other folk operatic singing popular in Tai'an, forming a distinctive vocal system. It is a typically oral folk art, its performance having no script, the actors relying entirely on memory to perform and improvise. Its repertory is extremely rich, the Taishan Shigandang series being the most famous. In transmission Taishan shadow artists have preserved the traditional carving, performance skills and orally transmitted scripts, innovating on that basis: the famous performer Fan Zheng'an, for instance, widely absorbed the skills of Xihe dagu, Shandong sibanshu and shibuxian and created a shadow performance technique able to operate, sing and accompany at the same time, now a unique feat of Chinese shadow puppetry. Taishan shadow artists keep the traditional craft while creating a “ten-idle” style of performance in which one man operates, sings and accompanies simultaneously.

Taishan Shigandang

The most famous series of plays of Taishan shadow puppetry and one of the representative works of the inheritor Fan Zheng'an.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The character modelling of Taishan shadow puppetry draws much on Taishan folk paper-cutting and traditional operatic facial designs, gradually forming a series of facial designs with clear regional character.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Taishan shadow puppetry is an important part of Taishan culture, fusing Tai'an folk art, music and opera, and is of important reference value for the study of folklore and local history and culture. Fan Zheng'an (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in December 1945 in Tai'an city, Shandong. He has skillfully mastered all the shadow crafts from making to performance; he not only inherits and carries forward the traditional skills but has made many important creations in shadow carving, screen painting and instrumental accompaniment, bringing new vitality to Taishan shadow puppetry. In performance he uses facial features and limbs together, placing such instruments as the drum, bangzi and cymbals on his feet and accompanying through ingenious design, enhancing the vitality of the performance. His representative works include more than a dozen plays such as Taishan Shigandang, Journey to the West and Journey to the East. In recent years he has performed abroad many times, spreading traditional Chinese culture and promoting the development of Tai'an shadow puppetry. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Taishan shadow puppetry) in the third 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 (Taian, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Fan Zhengan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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