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#83 Shadow Puppetry: A Chinese folk art

Shadow puppets are a traditional form of folk art that originated in ancient China. Long ago this form of artistic puppetry was used to both entertain the people and communicate important messages. You can perform your own shadow puppet show with your child by creating these easy puppets and a simple shadow box theater.

Shadow puppetry, or Shadow Play, was very popular during the Tang (618 - 907) and Song (960 - 1279) dynasties in many parts of China. Shadow puppets were first made of paper sculpture, later from the leather of donkeys or oxen. That's why their Chinese name is pi ying, which means shadows of leather.

More than 2,000 years ago, a favorite concubine of Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty died of illness; the emperor missed her so much that he lost his desire to reign. One day, a minister happened to see children playing with dolls where the shadows on the floor were vivid. Inspired by this scene, the smart minister hit upon an idea. He made a cotton puppet of the concubine and painted it. As night fell, he invited the emperor to watch a rear-illuminated puppet show behind a curtain. The emperor was delighted and took to it from then on. This story recorded in the official history book is believed to be the origin of shadow puppetry.

Shadow puppetry was related to politics. In Beijing, for example, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, this folk art was so popular that there were eight generously paid puppeteers in one prince's mansion. When the Manchu rulers spread their rule to various parts of China, they brought the puppet show with them to make up for the fact thatChinese Shadow Puppetry  they could not appreciate local entertainment due to language barriers. From 1796 to 1800, the government forbade the public showing of puppet shows to prevent the spreading of peasant uprising at the time. It was not until 1821 that shadow puppet shows gained some vigor.

Today, the show faces extinction like other traditional art forms such as Nuo Drama.

#84 Batik: Chinese wax dyeing 

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