More than 60,000 items relating to the traditional Chinese folk
art known as shadow puppetry have been collected from a dozen
provinces by China's cultural heritage departments.
Experts said some of the relics are extremely rare and can be
dated back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The one-dimensional leather puppets, tools for making them and
rendition paintings will be preserved in a museum for the
protection of shadow puppetry in Chengdu, capital northwest China's
Sichuan Province.
Colorfully painted shadow puppets are used to perform shadow
plays in which the silhouettes of the puppets are cast onto a white
cloth. Performers manipulate a cast of characters from behind the
screen while singers, accompanied by musicians, tell the story.
Chinese shadow puppetry was first performed during the Han
Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) in northwest China's Shanxi Province. It
spread to South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and North Africa in
the 13th century. The ancient Chinese folk art reached Europe in
the 17th century. The famous German poet Goethe staged European
operas using shadow puppets.
Shadow plays, with their distinctive and folksy stories, were
for centuries the only form of mass entertainment in many Chinese
villages.
The ancient traditional art form has fallen from the limelight
thanks to the huge shadow cast by movies and television. Many bands
of shadow puppeteers have disbanded, and many of the most talented
artists have died without leaving apprentices. In many areas the
performance art and the stories they told are nearly extinct.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2006)
