Shadow play (xianbanqiang)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Shadow Play (xianbanqiang)

Applicant: Qian County, Shaanxi Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Qian County, Shaanxi Province

Protected by: Qianxian Cultural Center

Introduction to shadow play (xianbanqiang)

Applicant: Qian County, Shaanxi 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.

Xianbanqiang shadow play is popular in Qianxian, Xingping, Liquan, Xianyang and other places in Guanzhong. Xianbanqiang, also known as banbanqiang, is named after the main accompaniment instrument "erxianzi" and percussion instrument "Banzi". It was formed in the early Qing Dynasty. It was the first rap form in which one person shakes the "fool" (second board) with his left hand and holds the knot (Tetris board) with his right hand. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, artists added string accompaniment such as Tu Sanxian and Tu Erxian, and began to form the "zhengbandiao" dominated by string tunes, and successively extended the "adagio" and "Erliu" tunes, making the string banqiang begin to play It entered the first period of development and prosperity. During the reign of Daoguang and Xianfeng, Wang Xiukai of Liquan created a variety of singing tunes, such as dakaiban, based on Zhengban. Erhu was added to the instrument, and the accompaniment form of erhbanzi with Erxian and Sanxian was adopted, forming a rich, clear and lively tone feature, laying the basic pattern of xianbanqiang music, and once again making xianbanqiang the best place for numerous classes and artists At one time, there were more than 60 classes at most.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Qianxian, Xingping, Liquan and other places also put it on the stage for performance. Xianbanqiang also formed a performance form of shadow puppet and stage performance, which has been popular among the people for a long time. In recent years, it is in an endangered situation and needs to be rescued and protected urgently.

Chinese PinYin : Pi Ying Xi Xian Ban Qiang