Chinese Shadow puppets

Chinese Shadow puppets

Intangible Heritage

Shadow puppets is one of the oldest Chinese opera genres, and was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2011. The main features of shadow puppetry are white curtains, dolls made of animal skins and scene props. The shadow puppets are manipulated with wooden poles behind a white curtain, and the light shines through the translucent curtain to create a dynamic image, accompanied by music and singing, mostly in folk dialects, to tell local stories. The shadow-making process is extremely complex, with many folk craft techniques involved, from selecting and making the skin to carving and colouring it. The hand-carved shadows are not only props for performances, but also a beautiful piece of art. There are eight steps in the making of a shadow: selecting the skin, making the skin, drawing, carving, colouring, dehydrating, oiling and mounting. A beautifully crafted shadow requires more than 3,000 strokes of carving, making the process extremely complex.

wordlheritage2022

1000 BC

dy28

English

Intangible

538

10/05/2022

10/05/2022

current,34,109;

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