Puppet show (Quanzhou puppet show)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: puppet show

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Item No.: 236

Project No.: Ⅳ - 92

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Fujian Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Protection unit: Quanzhou puppet inheritance and Protection Center (Quanzhou Puppet Troupe)

Brief introduction of puppet show (Quanzhou puppet show)

Applicant: Quanzhou City, Fujian Province

Puppet opera, known as "puppet opera" and "puppet", is a form of opera in which puppets perform stories by artists.

China's puppet opera rose in the Han Dynasty, to the Tang Dynasty has a new development and improvement, can use puppets to perform song and dance drama. Song Dynasty is an important period for the development of puppet show in China, and the puppet production technology and manipulation skills are further mature. With the development of social economy, the puppet show of Ming Dynasty has been popular all over the country, and the puppet show of the economically developed southern provinces and regions is more prosperous, so there is a saying of "good puppet in the South". After the Qing Dynasty, puppet show entered its heyday. It was not only popular in a wide range, but also showed more and more vocal performances. There appeared western Liaoning puppet show, Zhangzhou puppet show, Quanzhou string puppet show, Jinjiang puppet show, Shaoyang puppet show, Gaozhou puppet show, Chaozhou Tiezhi puppet show, North Sichuan puppet show, Shiqian puppet show, yangstring puppet show, Taishun YaoFa puppet show There are many branches such as opera, Lingao puppet show and so on. As far as the form of performance is concerned, it can be summarized as five kinds: string puppet, stick head puppet, bag puppet, iron branch puppet and medicine hair puppet.

The art of puppet is so beautiful that it's amazing. In addition to the wonderful performances of the artists, the perfect puppet plastic arts and operating equipment are also an important aspect to attract the audience. Plastic arts focus on the carving and design of puppets. Generally speaking, the modeling of string puppets is relatively high, mostly about 2.2 feet. Key parts are decorated with lifting lines, up to more than 30, at least more than 10, such as stunt performances also need to add a number of auxiliary lifting lines. The level of puppet performers' various dance movements and martial arts skills completely depends on the artist's operating skills, which is the key to the level of puppet performance art. The head of the staff puppet is higher than the string puppet. Generally, the height of the puppet is about 3 feet. It is equipped with three operating lines, two of which pull hands, and one dominates the head and body. The puppet with the smallest shape, only about 7 inches, relies on the artist's two hands to hold up the performance. The operation skill is special, which is different from the string and stick puppet.

Since the founding of the people's Republic of China, puppet shows have become more colorful. In addition to performing traditional opera programs, they also perform drama, song and dance drama, series, and even advertisements. At the same time, puppet show is also facing fierce competition with other art forms. Traditional puppet shows contain the ideology, morality and aesthetic consciousness of the people of all regions and nationalities, which should be supported and protected.

Quanzhou puppet play, known as "hanging silk puppet" in ancient times, is now called string puppet play. It originated in Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Jin and Tang Dynasties, they moved to Fujian with the immigrants from Central Plains. It was popular in Quanzhou in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. After song, yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China, it never stopped.

For thousands of years, Quanzhou puppet has not only become an indispensable part of the folk customs in Quanzhou and even the Minnan language region, but also a popular folk opera art for the general public, even the literati and literati with its unique skills and wonderful performances.

After thousands of years of continuous inheritance and accumulation, Quanzhou puppet opera has preserved more than 700 traditional operas and a unique opera music "puppet tune" (including ancient musical instruments such as "foot drum", "Zheng Gong" and the corresponding playing techniques) composed of more than 300 pieces of Qupai aria, and formed a set of exquisite and mature manipulation skills "traditional basic line rules" and exquisite puppet head carving Idol plastic arts and production technology.

In the traditional repertoire of Quanzhou puppet drama, a large number of ancient Quanzhou folk weddings and funerals, folk beliefs and customs are preserved. It preserves the words, vocabulary and ancient pronunciation of "ancient Heluo language" and Minnan dialect slang. In addition, it also keeps a lot of valuable information about the repertoire, music, acting methods, performance forms and so on. Therefore, the study of Minnan culture, Minnan dialectology and song and Yuan Nanxi is of multi-disciplinary research value, which has attracted extensive attention of experts and scholars at home and abroad.

Due to the special geographical, historical and cultural relations between Quanzhou and Taiwan and Southeast Asia, Quanzhou puppet opera began to spread to Taiwan and Southeast Asia where overseas Chinese lived in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and took root and blossomed there. In order to spread Minnan dialect and culture, continue the inheritance of national culture, communicate the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas Chinese from Southeast Asian countries, and enhance national cultural identity, it plays an important role as a bridge.

Chinese PinYin : Mu Ou Xi Quan Zhou Ti Xian Mu Ou Xi