How is Quanzhou puppet show performed?

China's puppet art has a long history, which originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It has a long history of at least 2000 years.

Quanzhou is known as "the hometown of opera", "the city of puppets" and "the capital of southern music". Since ancient times, there has been a aria of Xianggong's jumping from the shed in Quanzhou: "Ask the puppet man-made, when will Mr. Chen Ping make it ..."

According to legend, when Wang entered Fujian at the end of the Tang Dynasty, puppet shows were introduced to Quanzhou. By the Song Dynasty, it had been widely circulated among Quanzhou people. The puppet show in Quanzhou in Ming Dynasty has been separated from the "puppet playing" form of fragment and acrobatic performance, and can perform large-scale historical dramas.

By the time of Daoguang and Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, the puppet making technology had been greatly improved. According to the characteristics of Mulan, Journey to the West, Shen Feng and other dramas, artists have created many painted faces and faces. At the same time, the movable avatar was improved, which made the puppet take a big step forward.

There are two kinds of puppet shows in Quanzhou: puppet shows in the palm of your hand and marionettes.

The puppet show in the palm of your hand, commonly known as "puppet show" among the people, has been circulating among the people in southern Fujian since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It connects the puppet's head with the puppet's clothes, just like a cloth bag with a downward opening.

During the performance, the artist put his hand into the bag-like clothes, his forefinger into the puppet head cavity, his thumb and three fingers into the left and right sleeves, and performed all kinds of puppet characters vividly with flexible fingers. His representative plays include traditional plays, such as Daming Mansion and Lei Wanchun Beating the Tiger.