Puppet show (Lin Gao puppet show)

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

Applicant: Lingao County, Hainan Province

Item No.: 236

Project No.: Ⅳ - 92

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region:

Type: new item

Applicant: Lingao County, Hainan Province

Protected by: Lingao County Cultural Center

Brief introduction of puppet show (Lingao puppet show)

Applicant: Lingao County, Hainan 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.

Lingao puppet opera is unique to Hainan and rare in the world. It is mainly popular in Lingao County in the northwest of Hainan Island and the surrounding cities and counties such as Haikou City, Chengmai County, Danzhou City. It is a treasure of the intangible cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

According to old artists, Lingao puppet opera originated in the late Southern Song Dynasty. When the ancestors of Lingao prayed to God, worshiped Buddha, and chased ghosts and Exorcism, they all used puppets with human shaped stick heads. According to the "Lingao County annals" which was renewed in the 17th year of Guangxu, it said: "most of the people believe in Shinto, but they don't believe in medicine. In every festival, Duanmu is molded on the shoulders, and the male and female witches sing and answer as dramas. " After the transformation of artists, they moved to the stage, and formed in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty at the latest. Chen Hecheng, an octogenarian artist in Lingao County, successively presented 10 old puppets collected for seven generations in 1979, four of which were engraved with the "Kangxi" year mark on their heads. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, there were 30 puppet troupes, including Wu Silong, Cao Daluo, Wang Xiangfa and Liu Caifeng.

Lingao puppet opera is an important cultural carrier loved by the local people. It has a unique performing art. The main feature is that there is no cloth on the stage, actors hold puppets in disguise, and people and puppets play the same role on the stage. Human performance makes up for the lack of puppet feelings. With Aloha, a local folk tune, and langtan, a Taoist tune, as the main aria, it is beautiful and has strong local characteristics. In 1962, Tian Han, a dramatist, went to Lingao County to inspect his work. After watching the performance of puppet opera, he praised the puppet opera as "a rare variety, extraordinary, flexible performance and beautiful singing", and wrote a poem: "there are several songs by the coconut grove, new waves in the water of Wenlan River, and there is Liu Sanmei here, who sings a lot in Lingao." There are many ancient traditional puppet operas. After liberation, they also performed historical and modern dramas.

From 1981 to 1993, Lingao puppet opera performed in Beijing twice, both of which won high praise, excellent performance award and excellent music award. Among them, "huaxianzi" was recorded and broadcasted by CCTV, and the people's daily, ethnic pictorial, China puppet daily and other media made special comments.

Puppet show has outstanding historical, cultural and social values, has a deep mass foundation and the characteristics of generations. However, in recent years, due to the impact of the fashion of pop music and dance and the influence of diversified entertainment, puppet show has fallen into the endangered predicament of lack of successors, which is in urgent need of rescue and protection.