Shadow play (Southern Hebei shadow play)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Shadow Play (Southern Hebei shadow play)

Applicant: Handan City, Hebei Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Hebei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Handan City, Hebei Province

Protection unit: Handan Mass Art Museum

Brief introduction of shadow play (Southern Hebei shadow play)

Applicant: Handan City, Hebei Province

Shadow play is a kind of opera form that uses animal skin or cardboard to cut images and uses light to illuminate the cut images to perform stories. Its popularity is very wide, almost all over the country's provinces and regions, and forms a variety of shadow plays due to the different voices, such as Huaxian shadow play, Huayin laoqiang shadow play, agongqiang shadow play, xianbanqiang shadow play in Shaanxi, Daoqing shadow play in Huanxian County in Gansu, Wanwanqiang shadow play in Xiaoyi County in Shanxi, Tangshan Shadow Play in Hebei, Southern Hebei shadow play, Zhejiang shadow play Haining shadow play, Jianghan Plain shadow play in Hubei, Lufeng shadow play in Guangdong, Fuzhou shadow play and Lingyuan shadow play in Liaoning, etc.

The formation age of shadow play has not yet been determined, but according to the records of Menghua records in Tokyo written by Meng Yuanlao in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was mature and popular in the Song Dynasty at the latest. There were nine actors in the vashe of Bianliang in Tokyo, including Dong Shiwu, Zhao Qi and Cao Baoyi. There is a picture of shadow play in the Jin Dynasty mural of Wenshu Hall of Yanshan temple in Fanshi, Shanxi Province, which vividly shows the actual situation of Shanxi shadow play performance at that time. After the development of song, Jin, yuan and Ming Dynasties, shadow puppet shows a prosperous situation in Qing Dynasty.

Although there are many kinds of shadow play, the differences are mainly in the aspects of voice and repertoire, while the production and performance techniques of filmmakers are similar. Generally, the film makers scrape off the blood of the cattle skin, donkey skin and sheep skin, process them into translucent shape, and then carve them with color. The carving and drawing process is exquisite, and the shape is realistic. Generally, filmmakers are divided into head, body, limbs and other parts, all of which are silhouettes. The head is attached with helmets, and the body and limbs are dressed. After painting, they are baked and flattened with firebricks. During the performance, the actor's head is inserted into the body, and the body and limbs are connected. At the same time, three bamboo cuttings are installed on the body and hands to operate the performance. In addition to character modeling, we also need to carve some props, tables, chairs and scenery modeling to match the performance.

The main props are shadow windows, commonly known as "Liangzi", which are generally 3 feet high, 5 feet wide, no more than 4 feet high and no more than 6 feet wide. They are made of white paper for single person operation. The second is an oil lamp, which is used to reflect the movie player and perform the action.

Shadow play is an important traditional folk art in China. In recent years, due to the impact of modern film and television art, the audience and performance market are decreasing day by day. Many shadow plays are facing the danger of extinction and need to be rescued and protected.

Shadow puppets in Southern Hebei are mainly distributed in Handan, Hebei Province.

Southern Hebei shadow play has a long history. It is said that it was formed when Beijing court shadow play was exiled in Southern Hebei, mainly distributed in Southern Hebei, and affected central and northern Hebei. Southern Hebei shadow play is an important branch of Central Plains shadow play in Song Dynasty, which has an important connection with Henan shadow play.

Southern Hebei shadow puppet has simple modeling, combination of carving and painting, simple modeling system, which reflects the early style of China's shadow puppet. Southern Hebei shadow play repertoire rich, singing no text, is completely oral, dialogue humor, very colloquial, easy to understand performance, has distinctive local characteristics. The props of shadow play in Southern Hebei mainly include shadow play modeling, performance screen windows and accompaniment musical instruments. The band is equipped with Banhu, erhu, stuffy flute, Sanxian, suona, Sheng and other musical instruments, and now it is equipped with electronic organ. There are bangu, Zhangu, Dagu, Daguo, Xiaogong, Dacheng, Xiaocheng, Mahao, Bangzi, etc. The Southern Hebei Shadow Puppet Troupe still maintains the traditional customs, which basically reflects the performance form of the original ecological shadow puppet.

Southern Hebei shadow play has a glorious history, but now it is in a very embarrassing situation. Most of the shadow play artists are too old to sing. There are few middle-aged artists, especially young artists, and there are fewer and fewer movie boxes. Some clubs only leave props, but the artists no longer have them. According to the statistics of six counties in Southern Hebei Province, the number of shadow puppet troupes that can still perform now has decreased from more than 100 in the early days of liberation to more than 10, the number of shadow puppet artists has decreased from nearly 1000 in the past to more than 100, and the number of plays has decreased from more than 200 in the past to more than 30. Moreover, the number of performances has become less and less, and the scope of performances has become smaller and smaller. Traditional shadow puppet performance skills are difficult to be inherited, and its singing, oral repertoire and carving methods are almost lost.

Chinese PinYin : Pi Ying Xi Ji Nan Pi Ying Xi