The art of Chinese shadow theater

The vibrant colors of the shadows, the cutouts of puppets As fine as lace, their elegant lines, and traditional music make Chinese shadows of real works of art. Although the number of shows offered is today in fall, this great art of Chinese culture has several millennia of stories behind it, and still conceals many secrets.

History and origins of Chinese shadows

Experts believe that Chinese shadows are over 2000, and that they would have appeared during the Hans dynasty. THE origins Invention are more vague, and give rise to many legends. The best known says that the sudden death of his wife (87 BC), the emperor Han Wudi was so broken that his closest advisers were demented to console him by seeking to bring him the mind of his beloved. It was by seeing children playing shadows with shadows, that his closest advisor had the idea of ​​bringing back to the emperor the memory of his deceased woman by projecting his shadow behind a curtain, help a puppet and an oil lamp. That night, the emperor was so transported by the illusion, that he overcome his sorrow and continued his reign for many prosperous years. Although this legend is likely to fiction, it shows the historical value of Chinese shadows.

It was during the Song dynasty (960-1279) that the Chinese shadows have gained their popularity. To the point that at the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), there was between 40 and 50 troops Chinese puppet show just in Beijing! If the writings mention that the puppets were then made of thin cuts of paper, it is thought that they quickly evolved to be made from leather, especially donkey.

For many years, Chinese shadows were intimately linked to politics. In Beijing, for example, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722), this art of the show was so popular that each prince had 8 generously remunerated puppeteers. When the Manchu invaded China, they even more democratized Chinese shadows, because it could not appreciate other forms of entertainment, because of the language barrier. The political aspect of Chinese puppet theaters is all the more obvious since the Chinese government went so far as to ban them between 1796 and 1800, to prevent the spread of the peasant uprising which then took place. After a revival of popularity, it was ultimately in the 19th century that Chinese shadow shows became scarce.

Shadow theater show

Chinese shadow shows have seduced many people over the centuries thanks to their heady music, their delicate puppets projecting a thousand colors, and their amazing living performance. Typically, a shadow theater troupe is made up of five people: a first that must move puppets, a second playing Suona, a traditional Chinese trumpet, a third playing banhu, a traditional Chinese violin, a fourth in charge of Percussion, and finally, a fifth who sings. This real actor must then sing the voices of all puppets, and also often plays one or more of the twenty instruments linked to the Chinese puppet theater, making this show a real Chinese musical. Music is therefore a crucial element of this live spectacle, and will rhythm and set the tone of the plot. From the difficulty of the profession, these comedian artists are often professional, but there are still some amateurs passionate about the puppet arts.

The scene is then made up of a white fabric screen, on which the silhouettes of the puppets are projected. The puppets themselves look very much like cuts of paper, with the exception that they are articulated by stems to be able to be manipulated. The intrigue is generally very simple, and they are rather the artistic performance As such that attracts the public. For example, thanks to current techniques, puppets are capable of smoking or breathing! Some particularly elaborate scenes can even show the reflections of puppets in ice.

The puppeteer often handles five puppets at the same time, and each puppet is herself articulated with three stems. His ten fingers simultaneously manipulate fifteen stems! It is not a surprise that these plays be so impressive.

To bypass the limit imposed by two -dimensional puppets, performance is often exaggerated and dramatic. A puppet then has a theatrical and caricatural face, sometimes going to the comic. In this way, the public can judge the personality of a character while looking at his puppet. Just like at the Beijing Opera, a character dressed in red will generally be honest and good, one with a black mask will be faithful, and that with a white predominance will often be a traitor.

Finally, delicately staged, the decor itself can be worth the detour. Sometimes made up of real jewelry of architecture in the background, impressive finesse, landscapes, agitated seas navigated by boats with daring aesthetics, these decorations set the tone of the room.

Chinese shadows today

Of a few thousand troops at the end of the 19th century, a few hundred in the late 1970s, the national scene only offers only a few dozen troops, and the Chinese shadow theater is extinction. However, in 2011 he was listed as the intangible heritage of humanity, by UNESCO. However, there are few Chinese people who go to the Chinese shadow theater today. Among the troops that persist, only a few still performs in a traditional way, and are generally located in more rural, remote, and less developed regions, and therefore more attached to their traditions.

The puppets are then still made of leather, and manipulated using sticks, and the representations generally tell very theatrically of old Chinese legends.

Although the programming is not as rich as it is, there is still a scene of Chinese puppet shows in the different regions of China. Discovering the show of Chinese shadows can constitute a poetic and exciting break in China, since each play illustrates wonderfully the historical and cultural aspects of China. A framed puppet can constitute an original and authentic memory to bring back from China.