What is the historical development and spread of shadow play?

As for the development of shadow play, it is generally believed that it originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, the social economy and culture reached an unprecedented peak, especially the spread of culture, art and religion made great progress. For the needs of social life, people often use painting to express history books and classics more vividly and concretely.

At that time, some people changed painting into paper figures with movable joints, which were used to pass on scriptures and tell history more vividly. In the history books, we can see the prevailing written records of "monks chanting at night, but putting up a screen to stand up". The "night chanting" mentioned here is a story to be told when it is performed on the screen under the candlelight, which is equivalent to the screen and camera of the shadow play performance later, and it is also called playing tricks. According to relevant historical records:

In the mid-Tang Dynasty, Bai Ke's operas developed unprecedentedly, the compilation of song and dance operas progressed, historical dramas began to take shape, puppet shows were combined with other acrobatics, and the people became richer. Puppet shows are all made by imitating "shadow play", and many different forms of expression are derived.

It can be seen that although it was not clearly stated at that time that there was a shadow play, the essence was shadow play.

By the Tang Dynasty, monks had a colloquial "variation". Bianwen is a basic book of popular quotations and a Buddhist story interpreted by monks in the form of rap. There are images when you speak, just like a changing picture. This kind of Buddhist painting is called "Sutra in disguise".

When monks explain the words of these pictures, there are rhymes, essays, chanting and singing. This is a literary form of popularizing Buddhism to ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty, which is similar to the legend that shadow play began with religion.

Taoism also has a rap form similar to propaganda doctrine, called "Daoqing", which originated from Daoqu in the Tang Dynasty. While Bianwen, Vulgarity and Daoqing have pictures, they are not real shadow play. Later, they changed their image into a paper man and then a leather man, and only then did they have the embryonic form of shadow play.

According to Ming Di Miscellaneous Notes compiled by Zheng Chuhui, the Shu Shu Lang in the Tang Dynasty, there was a song accidentally written by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty:

Carving wood with strings is an old man, and the hair of a goose-skin crane is the same as the truth. For an instant, nothing happened, but it was like a dream in life.

The poem vividly describes the realism of the puppet show at that time and the feelings of the audience. Although this poem describes a puppet show, the characters in the puppet show carve wood and manipulate strings, which is easily reminiscent of the performance of shadow play.

The Dunhuang suicide note in the Tang Dynasty is also related to the recording of shadow lamps and their images. Dunhuang literature has a record of "two and a half liters of oil, used for lamp shadows for fifteen nights". Although it can't be proved that shadow lamp is a shadow play, the prototype of shadow play has appeared.

In Song Dynasty, shadow play entered a mature and prosperous stage. According to records, there are countless "hundred plays" performed by "Wosi", the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, among which there are special shadow play performances. At that time, there were many famous shadow puppeteers, among whom Dong Shiwu and Cao left their names in history.

Later, officials in the Southern Song Dynasty modeled on the "Wasi" in Bianjing, and built many places called "Washe" inside and outside the city to gather geisha music as places for military commanders to entertain and play. At that time, the famous shadow play artists were Jia Shirang, Wang Sheng and Wang Runqing.

Fan Chengda, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, once wrote in a poem:

Wutai is a prosperous place in ancient times, preferring the Lantern Festival.

At that time, the content of shadow play has been out of the monotonous mode, and the composition of performance has greatly increased. In addition to historical stories, there are some purely fictional works, and shadow play has become more and more extensive.

The prop materials of shadow play were first carved and knotted with paper, and then changed into leather for rigidity, resulting in a shadow play organization and a shadow play industry specializing in carving shadow plays, and a related performance industry centered on shadow play.

The Ming Dynasty was an important period for the development of China's ancient shadow play. Shadow play in this period accomplished two major missions: first, the schools of shadow play matured one after another; The second is to strengthen the external communication of shadow play. At that time, with the northward movement of the political center, the shadow play in Luanxian County, Hebei Province developed rapidly.

Later, in the Yongle and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty, because of the brave soldiers stationed in the border areas of Jiangnan, Huguang and Sichuan, shadow play also flowed into Yunnan and other places, and combined with local art forms, it formed a unique style in singing, facial makeup and artistic production.

Manchu people in Qing Dynasty loved watching shadow play very much, and there were special props for shadow play in the Eight Banners Palace. Artists are often invited by Prince Baylor to perform in the palace, which is called "the palace shadow play".

During this period, there are two other classes: one is Wang Fu Opera Troupe; First, the rich class, in the late Qing Dynasty, produced a shadow play "Teahouse" and so on. Among them, the novel Ganlong Xiajiangnan, written in Guangxu period, describes Chaozhou's paper shadow play like this:

It was dark and the city was closed, so they mixed into the city and watched some paper plays in the street. There are many plays in Fucheng, which can be seen everywhere. Not far away, I saw another one, and there was excitement everywhere. Some people employ local theatrical troupes, while others work in Beijing and Suzhou. Salt department yamen is often staged. Although there are few feet, the price is cheap.

This shows the prosperity and popularity of shadow play at that time, as well as people's joy. At this time, many shadow puppeteers inherited their father's career and passed it on from generation to generation. Moreover, many officials' mansions, rich families and squires are proud of inviting famous teachers to engrave filmmakers, store exquisite film boxes and privately run film classes.

In folk villages and towns, large and small shadow play classes abound, and it is not surprising that there are twenty or thirty shadow play classes in a township and a city. Whether it is a holiday, a bumper harvest, praying for the gods, or a wedding banquet to celebrate the birthday, it is indispensable to sing a shadow.

Even the play has to stay up late or last 10 days or more than half a month. A temple fair may also have scenes where several shadow play classes set up a stage performance, which is very lively. At that time, China's shadow play not only matured in art and entered a prosperous period, but also spread to most parts of China, including Taiwan Province Province.

Shadow play in Taiwan Province Province came to Taiwan Province Province with Zheng Chenggong's army. It is said that there is a soldier in Chaoshan, Guangdong Province in Zheng Chenggong's army, named "Awanshi", who performs shadow play in the army. Later, Awan Division settled in Kaohsiung County and organized classes to perform or worship in festive activities. Shadow play gradually spread and became one of the popular operas in Taiwan Province.

In addition, shadow play, as a wonderful flower of China's drama art, is also the earliest drama art that China went abroad and broke into the world.

As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, when Ningzong was in Jiading, due to the developed maritime commerce, shadow play spread from the sea to Southeast Asian countries, to Java and Siam, and later to Indonesia and Thailand. Then it spread to Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, making important contributions to the prosperity and development of world culture and art.

Puppet Show 66037 179386 Puppet Show 66037 176483 Puppet Show 66037 179543