China Tradition-Shadow Play

"Shadow Play" is the general name of shadow play and shadow play characters (including scene props and scenery) products. Chinese shadow play art is a unique artistic variety that combines China folk arts and crafts with China traditional opera skillfully, and it is an indispensable and exquisite pearl in the Chinese national art palace.

shadow play

"Shadow Play" is the general name of shadow play and shadow play characters (including scene props and scenery) products. Chinese shadow play art is a unique artistic variety that combines China folk arts and crafts with China traditional opera skillfully, and it is an indispensable and exquisite pearl in the Chinese national art palace.

Shadow play is a form of drama that allows the audience to watch the light and shadow of the plane puppet performance through the white curtain to achieve artistic effects; The plane figures and props in shadow play are usually leather products drawn by folk artists by hand and knife carving, so it is called shadow play.

Shadow play is one of the earliest operas in China. Its performance equipment is light, its singing is rich and beautiful, and its performance is wonderful and moving. For thousands of years, thunder has been loved by people, so it has spread widely. And shadow play has played a certain role in the development of culture and art at home and abroad. There are many new local operas, all of which are derived from the vocals of various shadow plays. The performance principle and artistic means of Chinese shadow play also played a leading role in the invention of modern film and the development of modern film art film. The western world, from Goethe in the18th century to Chaplin later, as well as other world cultural celebrities, spoke highly of the art of Chinese shadow play. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), leaders of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other countries have entertained domestic and foreign guests with shadow play for many times. However, after the Cultural Revolution disaster, the endangered situation of shadow play art has not been reversed.

As for the modeling and production of characters and scenery in shadow play, it belongs to the category of Chinese folk art. Its artistic style is also unique in national art gardens. In order to adapt to the shadow performance of shadow play, it adopts the method of combining abstraction with realism, and makes bold comprehensive treatment of characters and scenes such as planarization, artistry, cartoonization and dramatization. His facial makeup and costumes are vivid and exaggerated. Or simple and rude, or exquisite and romantic. In addition, smooth carving, gorgeous coloring, running through the whole body and flexible craftsmanship are really pleasing to the eye. Shadow play products (referred to as shadow play) are not only used for the performance of shadow play, but also for everyone to play with their hands. It can also be placed in front of the window or on a white wall as an indoor art decoration. China's shadow play is owned by many museums, collectors, artists and shadow play lovers at home and abroad because of its simple and elegant shape and strong national flavor, and it has both artistic appreciation and collection value. In international communication, China people often give Chinese shadow play as a first-class gift to international friends.

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The Origin and Development of Shadow Play

According to the textual research of the late writer Sun, shadow play began in the middle and late Tang Dynasty or the late Five Dynasties (7th-8th century AD). At that time, Buddhism announced reincarnation. When Chuangjian died, the layman in the temple regarded the shadow man as the soul of the dead.

In the Song Dynasty (960- 1279), it was combined with rap art and became one of the popular civic arts at that time. Gao Song Cheng wrote "The Origin of Things" and said: "In the time of Renzong, some people in the city could talk about the Three Kingdoms or take it as a shadow. At first, it was the image of the three-point battle between Wei, Shu and Wu, which has been passed down to this day. "

The book "Jingshi Jisheng" in Song Dynasty also introduced the evolution of the production materials and the performance content of shadow play: "All shadow plays were carved with plain paper at first, and then painted with colored leather (sheepskin), and their stories were quite the same as those of history writers." Shi Jingren mentioned here is the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (now Kaifeng City). Zhang Zeduan, a famous custom painter in the Song Dynasty, described Bianjing street entertainment in The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, including puppet shows.

The prosperity of shadow play in the Song Dynasty was also manifested in the fact that artists who made block prints became specialized industries for recording. In the Song Dynasty's Old Wulin Story, there is an article "Xiao Lu Ji", which records the industry that "the engraver" engraves the shadow immediately. "Wulin" is another name of Lin 'an (now Hangzhou), the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, which shows that shadow play has made new development from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty. Because of the large demand, there will be a special engraving industry. At that time, there were all kinds of shadow plays. The chapters in "A Dream in Tokyo" and "Jingwa Jiyi" say: "Ding Yi and others engage in' Qiao Pi Shadow Play' (funny shadow)"; The article "Miscellaneous Craft" in "The Sound of Gyeonggi" says: "There is a kind of hand shadow play"; "Old Wulin Story" goes at night: "Still playing in the small building, treating people as' big movies', and the children are noisy and endless at night." There is a tone of "big movie" in the score of Nanqu.

The word "Joe" was interpreted as "disguise" at that time, and there was a kind of "Joe sumo" in tile art, that is, funny wrestling. And "Qiao Shadow Play" may be a real person imitating shadow people's action form and making all kinds of funny appearances, which makes people laugh. If the film at that time was not very popular, it would be hard to say that it was Qiao Ying Xi.

Literally, "hand shadow play" may use various images of hands to express various images. It may be that people use the lights on the powder wall, and under the projection of the lights, they change their techniques and make game performances of various animal images. It may also be a small shadow play performed by hand.

The "big shadow play" is obviously a "human" performance. It can be inferred from this record that some operas in the Song and Yuan Dynasties absorbed the movements and music of puppets and shadow plays.

The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty regarded movies as entertainment for the court and the army. Genghis Khan's army went on an expedition to the vast areas of Eurasia, and China's films also spread to Persia and other Arab countries, and later to Turkey. Some countries in Southeast Asia also spread it. /kloc-At the beginning of the 4th century, the Persian historian Rashid recorded an interesting historical exchange about cinemas: "When Genghis Khan's son inherited the Great Unity, he sent an actor to give a lecture in Persia, which was about a hidden opera" (that is, the cinema).

Shadow play in Ming Dynasty continued to be popular in cities and villages. It is not only loved by the broad masses of the lower classes, but also respected by intellectuals. This can be seen from a poem praising shadow play written by Qu You, the author of the famous classical Chinese novel "A New Story of Cutting Lights" in Ming Dynasty. From this poem, we can see that the films of Ming Dynasty still retain the tradition of telling history in Song Dynasty. This film shows the historical fact that Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought for the leadership of the central government in the third century BC-the battle between Chu and Han;

A new cinema has opened in Nanwa, and the lights and candles in the hall are flickering.

Look at the Wujiang River crossing the river. You still call the hero overlord.

In the Qing Dynasty, especially in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, shadow play spread in China and formed different regional styles.

The Spread and Style of Shadow Play

Shadow play has a very wide spread, from Heilongjiang Province in the north to Guangdong Province in the south and Qinghai Province in the west. There are cowhide dolls in Shaanxi in the Central Plains, sheepskin shadows in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and paper window grilles in Shanxi. Some provinces have different schools, such as Hebei province, western schools and eastern schools. The western school is Beijing Shadow Play, also known as Pu Tuan Shadow Play, and the eastern school is Luanzhou Shadow Play, also known as Laoting Shadow Play or Tangshan Shadow Play.

Some provinces and regions have the same characteristics as music in the modeling of shadow play, and different performances have different genres and popular areas. For example, in Shaanxi, there are "One Gong Qiang", "Eight-step Opera", "Wan Wan Opera", "Falling Water Board Opera", "Clapping Shadow Play", "Shangluo Daoqing" and "Guanzhong Opera" according to the differences in vocal music and popular areas. For example, "Bangzi Shadow Play" is mainly popular in Tongguan and Huayin areas of Shaanxi, also known as "old-fashioned shadow play". It is said that it has been popular since the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368- 1644). Singing is based on words, and the tone is bold and exciting. When singing, people behind the scenes are playing roles, but the singer is the master. Only two strings (tendon strings) and huqin are used in the instrument. Every time you sing nervously, a person beats the rhythm hard to form a characteristic, so it is called "clapping hands for shadow play". Most of the dramas are based on the historical stories of "Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period" and "Three Kingdoms", and there are no dramas about talented people and beautiful women.

"Xianbanqiang" is mainly popular in Xianyang, Ganxian, Lixian, Liquan, Xingping, Baoji, Fengxiang and other places in Shaanxi and the eastern part of Gansu. It is said that it was circulated among the people in the 18th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 183 1). There are adagio, tight board, rolling board, stimulating board, skimming board and two-way board. There are more than 500 plays, of which 350 have been sorted out. There are more martial arts dramas than literary dramas. In addition to The Three Kingdoms and National Character, there are other talented and beautiful dramas such as The Tale of the Jade Hairpin.

"Wan Wan dialect" is mainly popular in Huaxian, Huayin and Dali at the northern foot of Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi Province. Therefore, it is also famous for China's plays. His music is euphemistic, beautiful, soft and meticulous. Musical instruments include Erxian, Yueqin, Huqin, Bowl (shaped like a small bronze bell), Side Drum, Cloud Drum, Hand Gong, Big Gong, Ma Gong, Bangzi, Suona and Tuba. Bowl bowl is its main percussion instrument, hence the name "Wan Wan cavity". The shoulder pole artist specializes in performing characters, and does not sing the white song. Qin Yue plays the drums with bullets, drums and gongs, and sings the white song in the curtain, hence the name "the first song"; Those who play the second string also play cymbals, whistles and tubas; Those who knock on the bowl have bangzi, gong, horse gong, hinge, etc. Only five people can sing the whole play. The pole picker holds the pole with both hands and makes various actions of people and horses. Actions in the field of literature are no different from strangers; The martial arts drama is very vivid when it falls and hits, and it immediately dismounts. There are more than 250 kinds of traditional dramas.

As can be seen from the above simple examples, there are many kinds of singing performing arts in Shaanxi Province. Its music absorbed Quyi and traditional Chinese opera, but also nourished the deficiency of traditional Chinese opera and music. Its spread area is extremely broad, and shadow play in various places has a unique style, which is really a unique feature of Chinese shadow play, which is also unique in the world.

The Value and Contribution of Shadow Play

Chinese shadow play art originates from life and still life. It embodies the wisdom and life ambition of our working people. The cultural atmosphere of shadow play art has already spread to all countries in the world. Shadow play is the earliest theatrical art that China went abroad and broke into the world. Since 13 century, it has been introduced to Asian and European countries and has always been loved by foreigners. As early as 178 1, the German writer Goethe celebrated his birthday with a shadow play, which surprised the guests. Shadow play, a traditional entertainment activity, is still popular in Turkey. Every time our shadow play troupe goes abroad to perform, it is highly praised. Shadow play is the earliest screen art for people to watch in the world, and foreign scholars recognize that Chinese shadow play is the forerunner of inventing movies in modern times.

In China, there are many art films, such as Pigs Eat Watermelon, Ginseng Doll, Golden Conch, Red Army Bridge, Jigong Fighting Crickets, Fisherman and so on. , are made by absorbing the modeling and action skills of shadow play. There are more than ten local operas such as Tang Opera, Flower Opera, Long Opera and Huanglong Opera, all of which are

A new kind of drama developed directly from the tunes of local shadow play. Shadow play art also creates humorous "shadow play steps" and shadow play modeling skills on the stage of drama, which provides rich nutrition for the development of stage art.

Shadow play music is developed on the basis of integrating national instrumental music and folk tunes from all over the world. With rich vocals, beautiful rhythm and flexible plates, it has its own system in the domestic music field. It also complements, promotes and improves other kinds of music.

The shadow play's shadow play modeling combines the essence of ancient murals, Buddha statues, opera masks, opera costumes, folk costumes and paper-cutting. It is vivid and exquisite, and can attract countless people and museums at home and abroad. There is also a big screen decorated with shadow play in the Great Hall of the People, which shows the artistic value of China folk shadow play.

Chinese shadow play art is a wonderful flower in China folk culture. Shadow play is the earliest curtain culture and entertainment form in the world. For more than 1000 years, she has added countless festivals and harvests to the endless sons and daughters of China, and pinned her hopes for peace and well-being and endless yearning for the future. It is the spiritual food of the broad masses of the people in past dynasties.

In the past, amateur shadow play organizations were often found in rural areas, factories, mines, troops, institutions and schools, which enriched the cultural life of the broad masses.

Shadow play invented by our ancestors is the earliest visual art that combines the shadow of performance with music and rap dubbing by using the principle of screen shadow. It is recognized by the theoretical circle of international film history that the art of shadow play is the forerunner of later film invention.

In contemporary film art, shadow play technology also provides a new and convenient technical means for animation production and creates new varieties for art films. Since 1958, the first shadow play art film, Pigs Eat Watermelon, more than a dozen art films have absorbed the expression of shadow play.

Shadow play has also been an entertainment tool for the army since ancient times. During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, domestic shadow puppeteers also went to the front line to express their condolences. During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and land reform, many shadow puppeteers made up new plays in line with the current situation, and they became light riders to publicize the revolution.

Chinese shadow play art also contains a lot of historical information. Scholars can study China's folk customs, folk literature, folk art, folk music, food, clothing, housing and transportation and many other issues.

Shadow play is the first performing art introduced to the west. Persian historian Christine's record is only about Genghis Khan's army performing a movie in Persia. 1767, a French missionary named Ju Harold brought all forms and production techniques of Chinese shadow play back to France and became a fashionable foreign art. On this basis, he created French shadow play, which was indirectly introduced to Britain in 1776.

1774, the great German poet Goethe (A.D.1749–1832) introduced China's shadow play to the German audience at the exhibition. He himself likes this ancient oriental art very much. 178 1 On August 28th, he celebrated his 32nd birthday by holding a China film performance and hosted a banquet for the distinguished guests in the palace.

/kloc-in the 0/8th century, foreign missionaries took away shadow play in Tangshan and Beijing. At first, they liked the carving art of shadow play and brought it back as a folk craft in China. They observed the unique form of shadow play and became more interested, so they introduced the whole operation method of shadow play to their own country.