Traditional Culture in China: the Emergence and Origin of Shadow Play

Shadow play originated in China, also known as "Lantern Shadow Play" and "Earth Shadow Play"; In Turkey, it is called Karadzic Opera. Shadow play is an art form that the masses like very much. Shadow play originated very early in China. According to legend, after the death of Li Furen, the concubine of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu often missed a man named Shao Weng, who imitated the image of Li Furen and shone on the cloth curtain. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very happy to see that the portrait on the cloth account looked like the dead Li Furen. This may be the embryonic form of shadow play. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many cinemas in Kaifeng and Hangzhou, which were very popular. In the Yuan Dynasty, China's shadow play spread to Myanmar, Persia, Java and other places. During the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, French priests who preached in China brought China's shadow play to France, and the performance was called "China's shadow play". Later, it spread to Britain and Germany, causing a sensation in Europe. The shadow figures manipulated by people in shadow play are called shadow play. Shadow play is widely produced in Tangshan, Luanxian, Hebei and Ganxian, Shaanxi. Shadow play in Shaanxi is also divided into West Road and East Road, with different styles. Originally carved with plain paper, it was later made of sheepskin or donkey skin. First scrape the skin thin, carve the image, then dye and oil it, and then display the image of the shadow play on the screen with lights. Shadow puppeteers are usually about a foot tall and have several joints on their bodies. They are hinged with a Hu string and fixed with three to five thin steel bars. Performers manipulate behind the scenes and project through lights, which is very vivid and realistic. Music accompaniment and lyrics are also folk accents with local characteristics. Because the projection performance is performed on a flat screen and can only move left and right, most of the shadow characters are silhouette.