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Puppetry

Ⅳ-92Traditional OperaShiqian, GuizhouBatch 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 oral tradition it came in from Chenxi in Hunan about two hundred years ago and has had seven generations of transmitters since; it reached its height in the 1940s and 1950s, with the Taiping, Xinglong, Tianfu, Yang-family and Taihong troupes.

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. Shiqian puppetry is a folk kuilei operatic genre circulating among the peoples of Shiqian county, Guizhou; at its height its performance area reached all parts of the county and the ethnic communities of the neighbouring Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou border regions. Its distant ancestor can be traced to the “carved wooden images” of the Han-Wei period and beyond, and it is a survival of the Song-Yuan rod puppet. As the old artists passed away one after another, only three men in their eighties remain, with no successors, and the human resources on which Shiqian puppetry depends are about to die out. Damage to the accompanying instruments, puppet heads and costumes, and the failure to collate plays, vocal styles and performance in time so that they are rapidly lost, are all major problems facing it.

The Taiping Troupe

One of the principal troupes at Shiqian puppetry's height in the 1940s and 1950s, alongside the Xinglong, Tianfu, Yang-family and Taihong troupes.

The Xinglong Troupe

One of the principal troupes at Shiqian puppetry's height.

The Tianfu Troupe

One of the principal troupes at Shiqian puppetry's height.

The Rod Puppet (A Song-Yuan Survival)

The Shiqian puppet figure is a survival of the Song-Yuan rod puppet, its distant ancestor going back to the “carved wooden images” of the Han-Wei period and beyond.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Shiqian puppetry centres on Shiqian county, Guizhou, and circulates through eastern Guizhou and the ethnic villages of the Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou border region; its figures belong to the rod-puppet system and its vocal music draws on both Chenhe high-pitched tunes and local folk songs, its performances mostly attached to temple fairs, vow-redemption rites and festivals.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Shiqian puppetry has rich cultural value, a distinctive ethnic and regional character and diverse social functions: it is a survival of the ancient rod puppet in eastern Guizhou; one of the examples for studying cultural exchange among the peoples of eastern Guizhou; a living example of the use of the eastern Guizhou dialect in folk opera; of suggestive significance for the study of the spread of high-pitched tunes and pingtan; of rich and distinctive ethnic modelling and costume value; helpful to the development of Chinese puppet art through study of its performance, poses, occasions and customs; helpful to the study of contemporary minority social education through study of the spread of its repertory among the people; and a further path for studying the psychology of folk religious composition through its rich religious concepts. At present it has lost its original audience.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Puppetry (Shiqian, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Rao Shiguang · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Fuzhenghua · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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