Chinese Puppetry Play

China Puppetry Play could date back as early as the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1279), it was boasted as a most popular performance art and had entertained both the royal family and common public. Most historical Chinese novels and events were usually adapted for puppet shows.

Having developed rapidly over the years, Chinese puppetry has combined artistic expressions with detailed handicrafts, traditional Chinese culture and music, well-engineered mechanical puppet parts and western technology to tell stories.

Puppet Show

As all-time favorite toys of both children and adults, puppets come in many sizes, shapes and varieties and can be classified according to their structural characteristics.

Puppet-show stage sets different according to the type of puppets being used. String-puppet shows are mostly performed in the open air without a curtain to conceal the puppeteers and spectators can see the performances from three sides of the stage. Stages for glove-puppet shows are often examples of fine workmanship. Essentially, they are miniature palace courtyards with richly decorated buildings featuring carved rafters and golden roofs.

Shadow Puppet Show

Shadow puppetry is a unique traditional Chinese art which based on the penetration of light through a translucent screen or sheet where the shadows seen by audiences are silhouettes. Mostly, the puppets, scenery and props, such as furniture, pagodas, halls and plants are made of buffalo or donkey’s leather. There are several artists manipulating the puppets behind the screen.

Shadow-puppet shows are one of the first traditional performance arts from China to catch on in the Western countries with a history of 2000 years. Mongol troops under the command of Genghis Khan and his successors swept across the vast Eurasian continent bringing shadow plays with them for entertainment purposes. Later the shadow puppet plays spread to Persia, Turkey, Southeast Asian countries, France, England, Germany and other European countries.

The shadow puppet play is an art form that combines theater, music, handicrafts, telling and singing. Puppet construction and the skills of puppeteers form an integral part of the traditional art. Manufacturing shadow puppets in particular is an elaborate process that begins with selecting suitable leather and processing it, followed by carving and dyeing. Therefore, it is not surprising that some shadow puppets can be found in world-famous art galleries.

How to perform Puppet Play

The art of puppetry play are still very popular to this day. A good puppeteer requires a lot of practice to perfect his craft. Puppeteers must be performers, storytellers, technicians or perhaps even artists. As they create a reality on the stage to get audiences involved in the play, and they must also perform technical movements with the puppets.

Since the 1950s, Chinese puppet-show troupes, with the government support, have toured Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, and the artists brought Chinese culture to the whole of the world. In the early 1980s, the China Association of Shadow Plays and Puppetry Shows was founded, followed by the launch of a national week of puppet shows.

A sense of humor and love of fun mixed with talent contribute to the fun and entertainment that is the basis of puppet shows. The Puppet Play in China has been considered as a special performing art of bringing honor to Chinese culture.