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Puppetry

Ⅳ-92Traditional OperaXiaoyi, ShanxiBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Xiaoyi puppetry belongs to rod puppetry and came to the Xiaoyi area in the Song. Drawing on the Xiaoyi county gazette and research on Shanxi puppet and shadow art, by the Ming and Qing Xiaoyi's puppet troupes were already fairly active, and in the late Qing and early Republic they merged with local shadow puppetry to form the “lantern-shadow troupe” performing tradition, producing family-based manipulative and carving lineages lasting several generations.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xiaoyi puppet heads are carved from wood, the frame built of bamboo and wood dressed in costume, the operating rods fixed to the figure's back and two arms, stressing lifting skill, twisting skill and stepwork, aiming at unity of form and spirit and ingenious mechanism. Its puppet modelling is simple and bold, its expression nimble and lively, its mechanisms ingenious and practical, with a strong northern character. Its troupes perform in varied forms, known for “two forms, three vocal styles”: the “two forms” are puppets and shadow puppets—Xiaoyi puppetry was originally an independent troupe, later combining with shadow puppetry as the “lantern-shadow troupe”, performing puppets by day and shadow puppets by night; the “three vocal styles” are pi qiang, wanwan qiang and the middle-road bangzi. Xiaoyi puppetry first sang in Xiaoyi yangge ganban qiang, pi qiang and middle-road bangzi (Jin opera), and later added wanwan qiang. Besides traditional operatic items it also stages modern plays and newly created mythological plays, and since the 1990s has extended its reach through puppet-themed film and television works.

The Legend of Kela

One of the representative puppet film and television serials made by an inheritor with new media since the 1990s.

Heroes Come from the Young

One of the representative puppet film and television works by an inheritor, of more than two hundred episodes in all.

The Lantern-Shadow Troupe (Puppets by Day, Shadow by Night)

The performance form after Xiaoyi puppetry and Xiaoyi shadow puppetry combined, staging puppets by day and shadow puppets by night.

Hair-Tossing, Beard, Hat-Wing, Fire-Blowing and Face-Changing Feats

Feats developed on the basis of traditional rod technique by adding figure poses and step conventions.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xiaoyi puppetry is one of Shanxi's local genres and circulates in Xiaoyi city and the surrounding counties.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Xiaoyi puppetry carries the customs, social ethics and aesthetic fashions of Xiaoyi, continually playing the positive role of punishing evil and encouraging good and of inspiring people, and providing living material for the study of sociology, folklore and local history and culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Puppetry (Xiaoyi, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Wu Xing · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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