The origin and culture of shadow

Shadow puppets are an ancient traditional folk art with a long history, and nowadays they are also a reflection of traditional Chinese culture. Through a small silhouette of the characters with the art of the people's local opera tone presents a vivid and interesting story, has a strong local flavor, because different regions are different accents, so the shadow play is also a variety of different. Shadow puppets are very popular among the older generation.

Origin of Shadow Theater

Shadow theater is also known as "shadow play" or "lamp shadow play", which began in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. It began in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty, and began to be imported to West Asia and Europe through military wars and land and sea transmissions during the Yuan Dynasty. According to the record, the shadow play is because Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, because of the death of his beloved concubine, excessive pining and ignoring the government, the minister in order to let Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty is not in the decadence of the folk learned a kind of art to present to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and sure enough, y favored by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. After that, it was passed down in the folklore, and nowadays, it is also an important part of Chinese opera.

Production of shadow

There are eight main production processes of shadow: First, the selection of skin: because of the different regions, the production of materials are based on the local animal skin. Second, the leather: cowhide is mainly "net leather" "gray leather" two. Drawing: There is a special drawing for making shadow puppets, which is called "sample sheet". Four drafts, five carving, six coloring: the shadow coloring is mainly made of copper, silver, Zhu, Plain and other mineral plants. Seven sweating ironing: after the color is also dehydrated to the shadow sweating, which is a key process, in order to make the color after the appropriate high temperature to eat into the cowhide, and to make the skin retained moisture can be evaporated. Eight embellished knot finished

Shadow culture

In China, many of the local opera plays are derived from the shadow play, and the shadow play used in the shadow show reasoning, artistic means, the invention of modern film and the development of art films also play a pioneering role. Nowadays, Chinese shadow puppets are collected by museums all over the world.