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Puppetry

Ⅳ-92Traditional OperaSichuanBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Chinese puppetry arose in the Han dynasty; by the Tang it had made new progress and could perform song-and-dance drama with puppets. With social and economic development, by the Ming puppetry was already popular across the country, flourishing especially in the economically developed southern provinces, hence the saying “the south is good at puppetry”. After the Qing it entered its heyday, not only spreading widely but with ever more vocal styles, producing such branches as Liaoxi puppetry, Zhangzhou bag puppetry, Quanzhou marionette puppetry, Jinjiang bag puppetry, Shaoyang bag puppetry, Gaozhou puppetry, Chaozhou iron-rod puppetry, northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes, Shiqian puppetry, Yang marionette puppetry, Taishun fireworks puppetry and Lin'gao human-puppet opera. It derives from the Qin and Han and passed uninterrupted through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republican period. According to the “Treatise on Puppets” there are two accounts of the origin of northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes: one that it came in with Hubei-Hunan immigrants in the early Qing, the other that it is a survival of remote antiquity's puppet art. But among the surviving old puppet heads there are those marked “fifth year of Xianfeng”, so it must go back at least two to three hundred years. Flourishing widely in northern Sichuan in the late Qing and early Republic, by the 1940s it survived only in the “Fuxiang troupe” of Ma'anchang, Yilong county, Nanchong; with support from the Sichuan provincial and Nanchong municipal governments the “Sichuan Grand Puppet Theatre” was founded and moved to Nanchong, so that the northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes now survive only within it.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Puppetry was anciently called “kuilei opera” and “kuileizi” and is an operatic form in which artists manipulate puppets to tell stories. The Song was an important period in its development, its puppet-making craft and manipulation technique maturing further. In terms of performance form it may be summarised as five kinds: marionette (string), rod, bag, iron-rod and fireworks puppetry. Puppet art is exquisite and breathtaking; besides the artists' fine performance, the perfect modelling art of the puppets and the operating equipment are also an important attraction for audiences. The modelling art lies in the carving and design of the puppets: generally marionettes are taller, mostly about 2.2 chi, with strings attached to key parts, at most more than thirty and at least a dozen, extra auxiliary strings being added as needed for special feats. The level of the puppets' dance poses and martial feats depends entirely on the artist's operating skill, which is the key to the standard of marionette performance. Rod puppets are taller than marionettes, generally about 3 chi tall, fitted with three operating rods, two working the hands and one controlling the head and body. Bag puppets are the smallest, only about seven inches, held up by the artist's two hands, their manipulation special and unlike marionettes and rod puppets. After the founding of the People's Republic of China puppetry performance became ever richer, staging not only traditional operatic items but also spoken drama, song-and-dance drama, serial plays and even advertisements. At the same time puppetry also faces fierce competition from other art forms. Northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes are a rare puppet genre in the world. Their figures are tall and closely resemble real people, with lively features and nimble limbs; they can perform basically every movement a human can and some that humans cannot, and were praised by the famous Soviet puppet artist Obraztsov as a “crown of Chinese national art”, rare in the world. Both accounts of origin lack strong documentary evidence, since puppet art was long dismissed by rulers as a petty skill and not recorded.

King You Returns to the Palace

One of the representative works of the inheritor Li Siyuan, a traditional mythological play displaying the near-human performance of the grandes marionnettes.

Kneeling at the Gate and Eating Grass

One of Li Siyuan's representative works, displaying his particular mastery of the sheng and chou roles.

Beheading at the Sutra Hall

One of the representative works of the inheritor Li Siyuan.

The Palace of the Ox-Fighting

One of the representative works of the inheritor Li Siyuan.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes took Yilong in Nanchong, Sichuan, as their earliest base, and after the 1950s were concentrated in Nanchong city, with the Sichuan Grand Puppet Theatre as the sole professional performing and safeguarding body; their form belongs to rod puppetry and, because the figures are tall and closely resemble real people, they are also called “grand marionnettes”, a rarity in the world.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Northern Sichuan grandes marionnettes carry on the most ancient puppet art; from their performance features and their own being one can glimpse the brilliance of ancient puppet art, and their uniqueness makes their protection and transmission all the more precious and of high value.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Puppetry (Sichuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Li Siyuan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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