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Puppetry

Ⅳ-92Traditional OperaMuouyishujuyuanyouxiangongsi, GuangdongBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Guangdong puppet art came in from Zhejiang and Fujian in the Yuan. In the late Qing and early Republic puppetry was active in the streets of Guangzhou, performed mainly at the City God temple, in the Huangsha area of Liwan Xiguan and at village god-birthday fairs.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Guangzhou became the place where Guangdong puppet art is carried forward. The famous carver Ye Wenfang absorbed the essence of Chinese painting and divine-image sculpture; the eyes of his puppets have double eyelids and can open and shut and roll left and right, glancing with spirit, making them art treasures of the most Lingnan local character. Guangdong puppet performance art is closely bound up with Lingnan folk custom, religious belief and local opera, becoming a distinctive part of Lingnan culture and world-renowned. Its plays The Hibiscus Fairy, Monkey King Thrice Borrows the Banana Fan and Zhang Yu Boils the Sea are recognised as its “three treasures”. Puppets made by the Guangdong puppet troupe have become gifts from governments at all levels to foreign guests. Under the impact of the economic tide traditional Guangdong puppet performance has declined in audience, leaving the Guangdong puppet troupe in crisis: traditional puppet art has no successors, the descendants of the artists mostly unwilling to take up the craft and no applicants in the great cities or even in the countryside and areas where puppetry is more active. The art faces the danger of dying out.

The Hibiscus Fairy

One of the “three treasures” of Guangdong puppetry.

Monkey King Thrice Borrows the Banana Fan

One of the “three treasures” of Guangdong puppetry.

Zhang Yu Boils the Sea

One of the “three treasures” of Guangdong puppetry.

Long Silk Dance

A rod-puppet piece created and performed by the inheritor, adding new elements to traditional costume and movement and attaining the artistic realm of man and puppet as one.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Guangdong puppetry centres on Guangzhou and circulates in the Pearl River Delta and in western and eastern Guangdong; its performing art is closely tied to Lingnan folk custom, religious belief and such local opera as Cantonese opera, and it takes the Guangdong Puppet Art Theatre as its professional performing and transmission body, renowned at home and abroad for its puppet-head modelling and carving craft with a distinctive Lingnan character.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The inheritor, a national first-class actor and expert enjoying the State Council special allowance, studied puppet performance at the Guangzhou secondary school of culture and art in 1974-76 under Li Xin, learning Guangdong rod puppetry. Engaged in puppet art for more than forty years with attainments in performance and direction and specialising in the dan while also playing other roles, able in both civil and martial parts and adapting to every form of puppet (and human-puppet) drama, he has starred in twenty puppet plays and directed more than ten. His puppet Long Silk Dance, created and performed, adds new elements to traditional puppet performance and attains the artistic realm of man and puppet as one. Since the 1990s he has taken disciples, and the actor Lü Jingxian and others he trained have become the backbone of Guangdong puppet performance.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Puppetry (Muouyishujuyuanyouxiangongsi, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Cui Keqin · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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