Posted 2018/6/6
In late May, the 21st International Puppet Association Conference and the International Puppet Festival opened in Chengdu. Hundreds of puppet and shadow theatres from 45 countries and regions, and more than 1000 artists and their workers gathered there to bring the audience an elaborate visual feast.
With small moves of their fingers, palms and wrists, skilled puppeteers from East China’s Fujian Province made hand puppets spring to life, coughing like an old man, or giggling like an innocent child. This kind of art was especially favored by local residents during the festival.
Fujian’s hand puppet tradition has developed along two lines, identified as the northern and southern branches. The Quanzhou shows belong to the southern branch, where the music employed is similar to that used for string puppet shows in the region.
The Zhangzhou shows, on the other hand, belong to the northern branch, of which the most famous is the hand puppetry of Longxi County.
Zhangzhou hand puppetry started in the Jin Dynasty (AD 265-420) and developed rapidly during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), before spreading across the straits to Taiwan, and later to Southeast Asia.
Integrating the techniques of carving, painting and embroidery, and combining it with folk music, the hand puppet show is a complex traditional Chinese performing art.
Hand puppets have wooden heads, and with performing garments, the figures are roughly 30 centimeters in height. The head contains mechanisms used to control facial muscles. The hands are either open or clenched. The puppeteer inserts his forefinger into the hollow neck and his thumb and middle finger into each sleeve to control the head and hands. In order to aid the arm movements, a thin bamboo stick is placed in the sleeves and turned.
The components of this puppet show are small and exquisite, and can be put into a sack and taken to the countryside for a performance. This is the origin of its name, “budai xi,” which literally means “cloth bag opera.”
The puppeteer is the key player in a hand puppet performance, and his training is much more demanding than an ordinary actor’s. The puppeteer must learn how to mimic the tones and phraseology of characters of different age and gender, such as the male leads (sheng and mo), female lead (dan), supporting male role (jing), jester (chou), and miscellaneous other roles (za).
The puppeteer must also learn how to manipulate puppets to perform complex actions and ensure that each puppet does so in its own distinct style and tone
Master puppeteers are able to manipulate puppets into performing extremely complex actions, such as combat with weapons. Other vivid and acrobatic acts include shooting an arrow while riding a horse, climbing over a wall, spinning plates and balancing stacks of bowls on their heads.
A highly-skilled puppeteer can simultaneously control two puppets with totally different characters and feelings with both hands. The hand puppet play is ideal for presenting fighting scenes and portraying human characters.
Above all, the puppeteer must be a storyteller, presenting the entire plot all by himself. Consequently, a puppeteer must be able to “tell a thousand ancient stories from a single mouth, and create a million troops with ten fingers.”
Together with the art of hand puppetry, the puppet-head carving skill of Zhangzhou is on the first list of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Puppet-head carving in Zhangzhou is a special craft that is found in Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou and the surrounding area in Fujian Province, and can be traced back more than 1,000 years.
The puppet heads are vivid and lively, with exaggerated facial expressions and specific genres. The amazing carving techniques breathe life into the puppets on stage. The craft of carving puppet heads is usually passed down from generation to generation.
The puppet heads are classified in five major roles: sheng (male role), dan (female role), jing (painted face male role), mo (male role of old age) and chou (clown). In addition, there are roles of immortal, specter and animal, as well as Lord Guan, Cao Cao, and the heroes in Outlaws of the Marsh.
