Puppet show (North Sichuan puppet show)

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

Applicant: Sichuan Province

Item No.: 236

Project No.: Ⅳ - 92

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Sichuan Province

Protection unit: Nanchong Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center

Brief introduction of puppet show (North Sichuan puppet show)

Applicant: Sichuan 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.

North Sichuan puppet is a rare puppet drama in the world. The couple is tall, like a real person, smart features, flexible limbs, can basically complete all the actions that people can complete, but also complete some other actions that people can not complete. Obrazzov, the world famous puppet artist of the Soviet Union, has been praised as a rare puppet art in the world "the crown of Chinese national art". (see on puppets) there are two theories about the origin of puppets in North Sichuan. One is the introduction of Huguang immigrants in the early Qing Dynasty; the other is the remains of ancient puppet art and culture. (see Liezi Tangwen and the biography of Zhang Lu) both of them are not well-known because the puppet art has always been regarded as a small skill by the rulers, so there is no strong historical evidence. However, the words "five years of Xianfeng" can be traced back to 200-300 years.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it was widely spread in northern Sichuan. By the 1940s, it was only the "Fuxiang class" in ma'anchang, Yilong County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province. Now, with the support of the people's Government of Sichuan Province and Nanchong City, the "Sichuan puppet theater" has been established and moved to Nanchong City. The puppets of North Sichuan Province only exist in the Sichuan puppet theater.

North Sichuan puppet inherits the oldest puppet art. From the characteristics of its performance and itself, we can see the wonderful ancient puppet art, especially its uniqueness, which makes the protection and inheritance of North Sichuan puppet precious and of high value.

Chinese PinYin : Mu Ou Xi Chuan Bei Da Mu Ou Xi