Puppet show (Gaozhou puppet show)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Puppet Show (Gaozhou puppet show)

Applicant: Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province

Item No.: 236

Project No.: Ⅳ - 92

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Guangdong Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province

Protection unit: Gaozhou Cultural Center

Brief introduction of puppet show (Gaozhou puppet show)

Applicant: Gaozhou City, Guangdong 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.

Gaozhou puppet opera, also known as "puppet opera" and "puppet opera", is a popular folk opera art. Gaozhou puppet belongs to the stick head puppet, which began in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty and developed on the basis of Fujian cloth puppet. For hundreds of years, Gaozhou puppet show has been widely spread in the villages of Gaozhou. There are puppet troupes in 23 of Gaozhou's 28 towns and streets. The original form of Gaozhou puppet show was single puppet show, and the middle class was developed in the late Qing Dynasty. Gaozhou puppet show does not have a fixed performance venue, only a small space can be set up to perform; in terms of time, there are performances all the year round, but the spring is the most prosperous, Lantern Festival, annual and festive festivals perform puppet show to entertain the gods and people. Gaozhou puppet show is performed in Gaozhou vernacular. The lyrics are seven character poetic sentences, and the singing is called puppet tune. It is based on Gaozhou folk song and carried out in narrative way. The contents of puppet show are mostly drawn from historical romance, case novels, folk legends and fairy tales, and there are no less than hundreds of traditional plays. The characters are loyal and evil, good and evil clearly, and have the function of disseminating historical knowledge and traditional moral education to the masses. The head of Gaozhou puppet is exquisitely carved and skillfully performed. Idols can blink their eyes, blow smoke and fire, kill their heads and other difficult movements. The puppet artists are happy to sing, do, read, play and play. It is a folk opera art that integrates sculpture, clothing, performance, script, music and other elements. It is an excellent human spiritual and cultural heritage and a treasure of Chinese folk art. "First there are puppet plays, then there are people's plays.". Gaozhou puppet show is of great significance to the study of the development history of Chinese drama, the history of national folk culture, the history of community and the construction of new culture.

Gaozhou puppet show is now facing the danger of survival crisis and loss. Social transformation, strong economic impact, cultural diversity, young people's entertainment orientation change, the sharp decline of the audience make Gaozhou puppet opera survival crisis, there is no successor of puppet art, some famous puppet artists do not want to inherit the mantle, and it is difficult to find someone to inherit in the society. Gaozhou puppet opera is indeed facing the danger of extinction.

Chinese PinYin : Mu Ou Xi Gao Zhou Mu Ou Xi