Shadow Magic - Chinese Shadow Puppetry

How many of you watched Kung Fu Panda 2? The movie itself has got nothing to do with Chinese crafts, but the intro, the flashbacks and the credits feature the unique style of Chinese shadow puppetry. I found a video of the end credits on YouTube for those who haven`t watched the movie.

As I already mentioned in my post China`s intangible Cultural Heritage, Chinese shadow puppetry has been inscribed in 2011 on the UNESCO list of List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Yesterday we had an interesting chat with Xu Qi, the apprentice of Wei JinQuan, a famous puppeteer from Huaxian (Shaanxi Province) who together with his troupe have taken Huaxian shadow puppet shows as far as Germany, the UK and France, receiving overwhelming praise.

Wei JinQuan after a performance abroad

Xu Qi, who is learning to make and manipulate the puppets at Wei JinQuan`s workshop, told us about his master and this fascinating art.

Chinese shadow puppetry is a form of theater acted by colorful silhouette figures, usually made of donkey, cow or sheep leather, accompanied by music and opera-like singing.  Manipulated by puppeteers using rods, the figures create the illusion of moving images on a translucent cloth screen illuminated from behind. Actually, contrary to what the name suggests, viewed through the white screen the puppets aren`t just shadows, but their color is bright and visible through the screen.

Wei JinQuan removing the fur from some leather

Carving the leather

After coloring the figures are dewatered
to make the colors penetrate in the leather

Performers manipulate puppets, while the other members of the troupe sing the story in an opera-like style, and play accompanying music.

The puppeteer must also memorize the songs and rhythm of more than 50 plays, some of which can last a couple of hours, in order to coordinate the movements of the puppets with the music and singing.  

A full-length play usually involves more than 60 figures, and Wei JinQuan, who is the only one in his troupe to handle the puppets, can manipulate more than 10 puppets at a time. For the troupe’s repertoire he regularly uses 100 puppet bodies onto which he can add around 400 heads of different characters.

 

Wei JinQuan is the leader of Huaxian’s Guang Hua Shadow Play Troupe and comes from a long line of shadow puppet players, his grandfather and father were both part of puppet troupe orchestras. 

The troupe behind the stage

Before the Cultural Revolution, when many puppets were destroyed and troupes dismantled, puppet troupes were very active in Huaxian, playing almost every day and competing with each other to perform at fairs. They used to travel from town to town to perform at weddings, funerals and other important occasions in village life. After the Cultural Revolution, only a few troupes remained, and today the three troupes remaining perform very seldom, upon request only.

Xu Qi told us that nowadays many young Chinese don`t know about the art of shadow puppetry, but it seems like its popularity is increasing in the Western Countries. Guang Hua Shadow Play Troupe was recently interviewed by BBC`s Micheal Wood, who is making a documentary about the history of China. 

Group picture with the BBC crew

Wei JinQuan also carves puppets for Jean-Luc Penso, a French puppeteer, who studied with him for several months before starting his own troupe in France.

Wei JinQuan welcomes in his home anybody willing to learn the art of shadow puppetry, and is more than happy to teach them! If you are interested we can help you to get in touch with him.

Learning to manipulate the puppets

Now forget about Kung Fu Panda and watch Zhang Yimou’s touching movie “To Live” to see how the life of a family, where the father happens to be member of a shadow puppetry troupe, was like between the 1940`s and 1970`s.

Xu Qi told us that Pan Jingle, 83 years old member of Guang Hua Shadow Play Troupe, was the one who dubbed the shadow play scenes in the movie. One more reason to watch this movie!

In another post I will explain more in detail how the puppets are made and I will introduce Wang Tianwen, the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage praised as " No.1 in Carving of Shadow Figure". 

All the pictures in this post are a courtesy of Xu Qi.