Puppet show (Shiqian puppet show)

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

Applicant: Shiqian County, Guizhou Province

Item No.: 236

Project No.: Ⅳ - 92

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region:

Type: new item

Applicant: Shiqian County, Guizhou Province

Protection unit: Shiqian County Cultural Center

Introduction to puppet show (Shiqian puppet show)

Applicant: Shiqian County, Guizhou 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.

Shiqian puppet opera is a kind of folk puppet opera popular among all nationalities in Shiqian County, Guizhou Province. During the heyday, the scope of performance radiated to all parts of the county and the surrounding ethnic groups in Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou and other provinces.

The distant ancestor of Shiqian puppet show can be traced back to the "puppet" with "carved wooden figure" in Han and Wei dynasties, which is the remains of the puppet with stick head in song and Yuan Dynasties. According to oral information, about 200 years ago, it was introduced from Chenxi in Hunan, and has been handed down for seven generations. By the 1940s and 1950s, it had reached its peak with Taiping class, Xinglong class, Tianfu class, yangbenjia class, Taihong class, etc.

Shiqian puppet show has rich cultural value, unique national, regional and diverse social functions, Its value is mainly reflected in: 1. It is the remains of the ancient stick head puppet in eastern Guizhou; 2. It is one of the examples to study the cultural exchanges of various nationalities in eastern Guizhou; 3. It is a living example to study the application of qiandongfangyan in folk opera; 4. It has enlightening significance for the communication research of Gaoqiang and Pingtan; 5. It has rich and unique national plastic arts and clothing cultural value; 6. Through the research on shiqianmu, it is of great significance The study of puppet performance, posture, occasions, customs and other aspects is conducive to the development of China's puppet art; 7. The study of the spread of Shiqian puppet drama among the people is conducive to the study of China's contemporary minority social education; 8. Its rich religious belief idea is another important way to study the psychology of folk religion.

At present, Shiqian puppet show has lost its original audience. Old artists have died one after another, leaving only three old people with no successors. The human resources of Shiqian puppet show are about to die out. The damage of accompaniment instruments, headmen and costumes, the untimely arrangement of repertoire, singing and performance, and the rapid loss of performance are all important problems faced by Shiqian puppets.

Chinese PinYin : Mu Ou Xi Shi Qian Mu Ou Xi