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Shadow Puppetry

Ⅳ-91Traditional OperaTengchong, YunnanBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In 1932, at the invitation of the Ganya (now Yingjiang) tusi, it went to the old town to sing the serial play Fan Lihua Conquers the West for forty-nine days, and later, at the invitation of border people and overseas Chinese, performed more than thirty plays including Sun Pang Wage Wit and Baolian Deng in Namhkam, Burma. In 1961 it was invited to Kunming to perform Changban Po and Zhan San Yao at the Yunnan festival of Dai, Bai, Zhuang and Yi drama, winning a special honorary award. In June 2000 Gudong town of Tengchong was named by the Ministry of Culture a “hometown of Chinese folk art (shadow puppetry)”. Drawing on research into Tengchong shadow puppetry, it was introduced along the western Yunnan trade routes and with migrants and, combined with the song and dance and folk beliefs of the local Han, Dai and other peoples, formed the two schools of western and eastern singing, flourishing in village temple fairs and border trading towns between the late Qing and early Republic.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Eastern-tune shadow puppetry serves mainly the south-eastern part of Tengchong county and the urban plain. In September 2003 the Liujiazhai shadow puppetry of Tengchong, the only shadow representative of the south-west, went to Guangzhou for the second national marionette and shadow puppetry competition for the “Golden Lion Award”, winning a bronze award for performance (comprehensive) and, for the shadow artists Liu Yongzhou and Liu Dingsan, the modelling and making award. Its figures (locally “kaozi”) are carved from oxhide, ingeniously conceived, exaggerated in modelling and strongly coloured; one operator can work several kaozi, the singing is round and the dialogue witty, and its plays are mostly serial cycles such as the Investiture of the Gods and the Warring States.

Fan Lihua Conquers the West

A serial play sung for forty-nine days in 1932 at the invitation of the Ganya tusi.

Sun Pang Wage Wit

One of the plays performed in Namhkam, Burma, at the invitation of border people and overseas Chinese.

Baolian Deng (The Magic Lotus Lantern)

One of the plays performed in Namhkam, Burma.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Tengchong shadow puppetry has a history of six or seven hundred years and is divided into two great schools, “western tune” and “eastern tune”: the western tune is found mainly in the villages of western Tengchong and the eastern tune serves mainly the south-eastern part of the county and the urban plain; the Tengchong county cultural centre is responsible for the project's protection and transmission.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Liu Yongzhou (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in November 1944 in Tengchong county, Yunnan. Born into a shadow family, at fourteen he learned performance and shadow making from his father. He can skillfully perform more than three hundred traditional serial plays of the Investiture of the Gods and Warring States cycles. His operation is free and flexible, his singing round and pleasing and his dialogue vivid and witty, giving great artistic enjoyment. The kaozi he designs and makes are ingenious in conception, exaggerated and amusing in modelling and of very high artistic and collectible value. He has performed in most villages of Tengchong and many times in Lianghe, Yingjiang, Mangshi, Ruili, Longchuan and Kunming. He also has wide interests in sculpture, music and painting and is a versatile man. For many years he has worked to rescue and protect Tengchong shadow puppetry and its kaozi making, teaching a group of disciples including Liu Ankui, Liu Anxian and Liu Anping, who have basically mastered the performance and making craft. He is a representative inheritor of shadow puppetry (Tengchong shadow puppetry) in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. In 2003 the Liujiazhai shadow troupe, with him as its mainstay, performed the traditional shadow play Journey to the West — Sun Wukong Havocs in Heaven at the second national marionette and shadow puppetry competition for the “Golden Lion Award”, winning a bronze award for performance (comprehensive) and the modelling and making award. Tengchong shadow puppetry is the representative of shadow puppetry on the south-western frontier, and its kaozi making and serial-play performing tradition are of important value for studying the spread of Han opera in frontier regions and the blending of multi-ethnic cultures; the locality sustains the art through troupe performance, craft teaching and opera-in-schools.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Shadow Puppetry (Tengchong, Yunnan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Liu Yongzhou · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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