Shadow play

Updated: 2013-10-10
( chinaculture.org )

VIII Hua county Shadow Play

Declarer：Weinan city,Shaanxi province

Hua county shadow plays usually involve five people. Among them, the most important one sings for all the characters and plays a drum as well yu-kin (a traditional Chinese musical instrument), one operates the figures, and the other three people are in charge of playing othermusical instruments.

IX Huayin Ancient Shadow Play Tune

Declarer：Huayin city, Shaanxi Provine

The Huayin ancient tune is a genre developed from a folk story-telling art in Shaanxi at the end of the Ming Dynasty and early period of the Qing Dynasty.

X. Egong Shadow Play Tune

Declarer：Fuping county, Shaanxi province

XI. Xianban Shadow Play Tune

Declarer：Gan county, Shaanxi province

XII. Huan county Daoqing Shadow Play Declarer：Huan county,Gansu province

Daoqing, a form of folk art, means "ballad with a moral theme." This form of shadow play is unique and is based on local life.

XIII. Linyuan Shadow Play

Declarer：Linyuan city, Liaoning province

Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment that uses flat articulated figures (shadow puppets) to create the impression of moving humans and other three-dimensional objects.

Shadow play was introduced from Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces to Zhangye of Gansu province in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Shadow play is a folk art integrating painting, carving, music, singing, light, performance and modeling. It is an important part of traditional Chinese culture.

Most of the shadow play's sceneries, stage properties and figures are carved by cowhide. Therefore, they are transparent, colorful, delicate and durable.

The three-dimensional objects are reflected on a flat surface by applying the cavalier perspective theory in Chinese painting. Moreover, most objects utilized their sides to create the shadow play.

Zhangye shadow adheres with Shaanxi and Shanxi shadow plays in figures and knife techniques. However, the puppets of Zhangye shadow play are engraved in bolder and simpler styles. They are decorative and exaggerated just like Zhangye's paper-cutting.

Zhangye's shadow puppets have big heads and long bodies with arms that stretch over the knees, making the body proportion of the puppets exaggerated.

Shadow play's scripts come mostly from The Legend of Deification, Journey to the West and Water Margin (classical works in Chinese literature). They are usually sung in Shaanxi opera.