It can revitalize the traditional art that is about to disappear, attract more and more young people's attention, and even make it re-ignite, without extraordinary perseverance, persistent faith, long-term persistence, and a keen sense of smell for short videos and new media forms such as vibrato, which is obviously difficult to do. But Wang Xi, the heir of Jingxi shadow puppetry, and her team of pocket puppets did it.
Wang Xi (third from left)
For more than 10 years, Wang Xi has trained about 300 pocket puppets to perform shadow puppets for free, which not only helps pocket people solve employment problems, but also integrates traditional shadow puppets into new elements, has a more contemporary atmosphere, and is full of infinite vitality. Li Jiaming, host of CCTV's "Golden 100 Seconds", praised Wang Xi and her team: "You have made the shadow puppet fire again."
Tough entrepreneurship -
In order to inherit the art of shadow puppetry, the couple resigned one after another
Wang Xi's ancestral home is Shandong, a typical post-70s, the inheritor of Beijing West Shadow Puppetry, and the director of Beijing Dragon In Heaven Shadow Art Theater.
"I was born into a shadow puppet family, and when I was a child, I grew up watching my grandfather perform shadow puppets, my parents drawing shadow puppets, and making shadow puppets." From a young age, Wang Xi naturally liked shadow puppetry. Although he did not work in shadow puppetry after graduation, Wang Xi has a special affection for shadow puppetry.
It is also fate that Wang Xi's husband Lin Zhonghua also comes from a shadow puppet family. The same family background and the same hobbies brought the two together. "My husband used to work in media communication, and around 2006, seeing that there were fewer and fewer old artists performing shadow puppets, my husband decided to quit his job to engage in the inheritance and promotion of shadow puppetry."
Her husband said that if the post-70s are not willing to do this work, then who is willing to do it after the 80s and 90s? If young people don't do this work, then shadow puppets may slowly disappear.
Wang Xi is known as the "Shadow Man Sister"
Because inheriting the art of shadow puppetry is something Lin Zhonghua likes to do, he is willing to do it as a lifelong career. Lin Zhonghua's idea was strongly supported by his wife Wang Xi. In 2006, Lin Zhonghua rented a house of more than 1,000 square meters in Beijing and decorated a shadow puppet museum at nearly 200,000 yuan at his own expense. After that, Wang Xi and Mr. Wang contacted everywhere and found a lot of experienced shadow puppet artists, and everything started from scratch.
Wang Xi and Lin Zhonghua did not expect that the actual difficulties encountered in inheriting the shadow puppet art of Everbright were much greater than expected: the team was not enough manpower, the inheritors were not enough, the singing voice of the old artists was difficult to understand, the audience was small, and the debt was getting more and more serious...
"At that time, the 30 yuan ticket for two people was rarely patronized." Wang Xi clearly remembers that at that time, she was working in a foreign company, with a monthly salary of six or seven thousand yuan, and the monthly salary was not hot, and it was used by Mr. To pay for various expenses of the shadow puppet museum. In the most difficult times, the shadow puppet museum could not even pay the rent, and had to move out at the request of the landlord. Some old artists also left the team one after another because they could not adapt to the city's work and rest system.
It was in this situation that Mr. Wang Xihe never gave up their shadow puppet dreams. On May 11, 2009, Wang Xi decided to resign from a foreign company and work with mr. Wang to engage in the inheritance and publicity of shadow puppetry, and truly operated shadow puppetry as the business of the two.
The turning point of joy -
Government support, pocket people to join to make shadow puppets come alive
Young people can't stay. Just when the shadow puppet career was at its lowest point, Lin Zhonghua suddenly remembered a pocket friend he had interviewed before - she was a positive person, especially good at singing, very talented in acting. Lin Zhonghua thought that the shadow puppet inheritance lacks young people, can you invite your pocket friends to join the shadow puppet performance team?
Lin Zhonghua quickly found this pocket friend. Listening to Lin Zhonghua's idea, the other party immediately expressed his approval, saying that he was preparing to find a job for several pocket friends around him. In this way, Wang Xi's shadow puppet team ushered in the first batch of pocket friends.
"They're smart and they're studying hard." In view of the small size and small hands of the pocket people, Wang Xi thinned the wooden poles of the shadow puppets to facilitate their operation; at the same time, the troupe built a special stage for the pocket people to facilitate their performances.
After three months of free training, the Pocket People have fully demonstrated their talents in shadow puppetry. The audience and the media also recognize the spirit of hard work and self-reliance of the pocket people, and more and more people pay attention to this group and pay attention to shadow puppetry. It is generally believed that Wang Xi's team not only helped the pocket people to find employment, but also well inherited and enlarged the shadow art, "creatively protecting the intangible cultural heritage".
Wang Xi and her shadow puppet troupe
Since then, with the strong support of relevant departments, Wang Xi's shadow puppet team has ushered in the spring of development. Up to now, Wang Xi's shadow puppet team has trained nearly 300 pocket friends to engage in shadow puppet performing arts, from 18 provinces across the country, including Hebei, Henan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and other places. In the shadow puppet troupe, in addition to free food and accommodation, free clothing, and free insurance, the better monthly income can be five or six thousand yuan, and the general one also has three or four thousand yuan.
"After many pocket friends study here, not only can they support themselves, but their personalities have also become cheerful, they are more confident, and their attitude towards life has also changed a lot." Wang Xi said that at present, the pocket friends who stay in the troupe have an average age of 23 years old and a height of 130 centimeters. In addition to the pocket friends who stayed in the troupe to perform, many people returned to their hometowns or went to other places to engage in shadow puppet performances after completing their studies. "Wherever they go, I bless them and hope they're getting better and better every day."
Wang Xi said frankly that in terms of traditional shadow puppet performance, whether it is singing skills or charm, pocket actors are difficult to compare with old artists, but in terms of innovation in shadow puppet plays, the characteristics of pocket actors are very prominent. "Pocket actors are young people, they accept things faster, and they are more prominent than old artists in the creation of innovative shadow puppet shows. For example, during the epidemic in 2020, our team created 12 'war-themed shadow puppet plays', and after the short video was broadcast online, the number of hits exceeded 100 million, which was very difficult for old artists. ”
In the shadow puppet troupe, pocket friends not only learned the craft they relied on to make a living, but also some people reaped love here. "Up to now, 21 pocket couples have met and fallen in love in the troupe, and entered the marriage hall, one of the couples has a baby, and 8 or 9 couples have bought a building in their hometown through shadow puppetry."
Group photo of the troupe
The addition of pocket people not only activates the art of shadow puppetry, but also makes the prospect of shadow puppet inheritance more bright. "In the early days of entrepreneurship, we had a bunch of debts outside, and the relatives, classmates, and friends who could borrow all borrowed; we did seven or eight credit cards alone, and it was common to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and the pressure was particularly great."
After the troupe turned around, Wang Xi paid off all his debts and "really felt the feeling of being light without an account." In her view, it is the support and help of relevant departments that has turned the shadow puppet cause around, and it is the addition of pocket friends that has activated the shadow puppet art.
In 2017 and 2019, Wang Xi and her shadow puppet team twice appeared on CCTV's "Golden 100 Seconds" program, and their performances were unanimously praised by the guests and audiences. CCTV host Li Jiaming praised Wang Xi and her team on the spot: "You have made traditional shadow puppetry catch fire again."
Never-ending innovation ——
The combination of shadow puppetry and the Winter Olympics allows the intangible cultural heritage to keep the pulse of the times
Why are Wang Xi and her shadow puppet team attracting more and more attention from young people? The answer given by Wang Xi is never-ending innovation.
In 2009, combined with the fact that the pocket people joined the troupe, Wang Xihe and the team tailored a number of shadow puppet children's dramas for the pocket people, such as "Sun Wukong vs Red Child", "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs", "Divine Pen Ma Liang", etc., which were well received by parents and students.
Since then, the troupe has launched many shadow puppet plays that are close to life, close to reality and close to the masses, such as the original war epidemic theme shadow puppet plays "Children's Vaccine General Mobilization" and "Ne Jia War Virus" that reflect the prevention of the new crown virus, "Walk the dog please tie the rope" and "High Altitude Mo Throwing Objects" that reflect the construction of community spiritual civilization, and reflect the "Ice and Snow Games" of the Beijing Winter Olympics, etc., the materials are derived from life, and the closeness and pertinence are very strong.
Featured shadow puppet play "Nezha War Virus"
The innovation of content inevitably leads to the innovation of form. In terms of form of expression, the modern shadow puppet plays produced and performed by Wang Xi Troupe have incorporated new elements, and the character images, costumes, sets, props and other traditional shadow puppet plays have changed greatly. For example, the design and production of ambulances in the epidemic, pistols in the small soldier Zhang Ga, pet dogs, etc., the image is realistic, vivid and vivid, and the picture is exquisite.
Shadow puppet play "Little Soldier Zhang Ga"
In addition, in order to facilitate the audience to watch and understand, most of the new plays use Mandarin, and the elderly and children can understand, which is conducive to the promotion and dissemination of shadow puppetry.
Innovation means self-pressure, self-challenge, means working harder, paying more, sacrificing more. Wang Xi introduced that in ordinary shadow puppetry, the characters in the play are generally handled by three strokes, and 1 behind-the-scenes actor can operate the whole process. The Shadow Puppet Characters of the Winter Olympics are basically five-shot operations, and 3 actors must work together behind the scenes to control the athletes' heads and limbs respectively in order to successfully complete the performance project.
The so-called one minute on stage, ten years offstage. Wang Xi said that a few minutes of shadow puppet performances at the Winter Olympics were rehearsed for nearly three months. For example, figure skating, before training, several shadow puppet actors should face the video, seriously study the movements of figure skaters, such as lifting, jumping, turning, 360 degree rotation landing, etc., "an action to see many times, four or five actors need to run countless times, in order to make this action, in order to make the action more beautiful."
Wang Xi was interviewed by a television station
Although it is hard to pay, there is a reward for hard work. After the shadow puppet "Ice and Snow Games" was broadcast, the praise was overwhelming, and CCTV, People's Daily, People's Network, Beijing Television, etc. reported it one after another, allowing the audience to understand the Winter Olympics, publicize the Winter Olympics, and participate in the Winter Olympics through shadow puppet art. In December 2021, Wang Xi's team made shadow puppet shapes with 15 sports projects of the Winter Olympic Games, and designed and developed the "Ice and Snow Shadow Wall Lamp", which won the gold medal of the "Love Cube" Creative Competition of the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation.
Inheriting the art of shadow puppetry, why fight like this? Wang Xi smiled and said that shadow puppetry is not the art of their family, but the art of the country. "If through our efforts, we can make the shadow puppet better passed on, and let more people like the shadow puppet, we will be very pleased."
When talking about the ultimate goal of reform and innovation, Wang Xihao said with great emotion that it is not only necessary to let Chinese see shadow puppets, but also to let foreigners understand China's traditional culture. "In addition to the English and Russian versions of shadow puppetry, we are also preparing to produce Korean, German and French versions of shadow puppet plays to make traditional Chinese culture go global."
Promote with less effort——
Douyin let more people know shadow puppets and like shadow puppets
The wine aroma is also afraid of deep alleys, and good content also needs a good display platform. How to use the modern media platform to let more people know shadow puppets, understand shadow puppets, and like shadow puppets has always been a problem that Wang Xi and Lin Zhonghua are thinking about.
In 2018, Wang Xi registered an account named "Wang Xi and Shadow Puppet Baby" on the Douyin platform. Since then, with the help of Douyin, Wang Xi and Douyin have begun to jointly promote shadow puppetry. "The short shadow puppet video we produced was only 3 days after it was launched, and the number of views reached 290 million people, which is incredible!" What is the concept of 290 million views? In Wang Xi's view, thousands of shadow puppet artists across the country have performed for 10 years, and the number of viewers has not reached 290 million.
Wang Xi's Douyin account
Seeing that the spread effect of Douyin is so powerful, Wang Xi and her team have increased the promotion of shadow puppets on the Douyin platform. Up to now, "Wang Xi and Shadow Puppet Baby" has more than 500,000 likes on Douyin, and the total number of related topics has reached 45 billion.
Tao Li does not speak, and the next is a mystery. In 2021, Wang Xi was rated as a "headline kind person" by today's headlines. On August 17 of the same year, invited by the Douyin e-commerce "See Craft Program", Wang Xi performed shadow puppet art for the national audience through the stage of Hunan Satellite TV's "Douyin New Trend Good Things Night" evening.
In addition, Wang Xi also cooperated with Douyin e-commerce to launch a series of shadow puppet play peripheral products, of which "shadow puppet printed T-shirts" have sold more than 10,000 pieces in Douyin e-commerce.
Wang Xi and members of her "troupe"
And these also let Wang Xi open up new ideas in the dissemination of shadow puppet plays and the development of the troupe, she hopes to expand the influence of shadow puppet plays through live streaming and online performances, so that more people can understand shadow puppetry and like shadow puppetry.
When talking about the next development goals and plans, Wang Xi hopes that more shadow puppet artists will walk into the school and into the classroom. She said that she is currently compiling a set of shadow puppet teaching materials, which are scheduled to be published in March next year, when more shadow puppet teachers will be trained, hoping that this set of teaching materials will play a positive role in the inheritance and promotion of shadow puppets.
"Since we chose the path of shadow puppetry in the first place, we will definitely go on." For the future of shadow puppetry, Wang Xi is full of confidence. #好心人上头条 #
Huashang Daily reporter Chen Youmou Editor Dong Lin
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