#SHADOW PUPPETRY FOR RURAL AREAS SERIES#

However, with films and television series gradually becoming major sources of entertainment in the late 1980s, the art's popularity waned and many performers moved on to other jobs.Īs more young people left the villages, Liu faced the problem of finding people to whom he could pass the tradition, an issue faced by other guardians of heritage. Over the past decades, he has mastered special techniques such as folk singing and the ability to play various musical instruments.įor years, shadow plays were welcomed by audiences of all ages in rural China, and were staged for every major occasion.

The farmer began learning the craft from his father when he was 14. Hailing from Huanxian county, the hometown of Daoqing shadow plays, Liu has been performing shadow puppetry for 57 years.

Originating in the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), Daoqing shadow puppetry in Gansu is an important branch of Chinese shadow puppetry and has been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list since 2006. Aside from Liu, the 30-plus performers of the show are all college students with an average age of around 20. This is a Daoqing shadow puppetry class at Longdong University in Northwest China's Gansu province. Those sitting in front of the stage play music on gongs, drums, suona horns and other instruments. As the powerful singing voice of 71-year-old Liu Aibang echoes across the classroom, students manipulate shadow puppets with rods, making them step onto the 'stage' - a translucent cloth screen illuminated from behind.

Shadow puppetry for rural areas