Puppet show, also known as puppet play, originated from the Han dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty, is an ancient kind of drama that uses puppets as actors to interpret stories.
Puppet shows have been popular in a wide area of our country. Many villages, towns, streets and alleys in the vast Luling have also been active in their incomparably beautiful figures. However, with the change of times, the vicissitudes of the sea, the ancient art has gradually faded out of people's sight, and its true appearance can only be seen occasionally in a few remote mountain villages.
Shangcun Village, Shangmo Township, Taihe County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, has a long history and a prosperous literary style, and the puppet show has been passed down in the village for more than 100 years. The artists of the Uemura puppet show class are half agricultural and half art. Weekdays hard work, busy farming, a little free time, teachers and apprentices, repeated practice. During the agricultural leisure season, we meet to form a class, carry the head of the line to the village and the countryside to perform stunts, and the footprints can reach a hundred miles. The Mid-Autumn Festival, the traditional festival of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the village fire farmer temple fair, the clan genealogy, the village artificial house, the farmer's wedding and funeral birthday, etc., are all excellent times for them to perform; ancestral halls, temples, village entrances, halls, fields, fields, and even behind the houses in front of the house are the best stages for them to show their skills. Hundreds of plays such as "Three Niangs Godson", "Taoyuan Jieyi", "Mantang Fu", "Family Fulu", "Expedition to the East and the West", "Journey to the West" and so on are all popular and fascinating.
Puppet show
Uemura puppeteers are highly skilled. They often wear several positions, while manipulating puppets to sing, do, read, and play performances, they can also work part-time to beat gongs and drums to accompany them, etc. One person can also complete the performance of the whole play.
The puppets used in the Uemura puppet show are mainly war-headed puppets, and there are a small number of cloth bag puppets. When performing, it is manipulated with hook cards and suspensions. Each puppet is provided with 5 to 12 suspension wires, up to a maximum of more than 20. The puppet is fifty or sixty centimeters tall and weighs about 7 to 10 pounds. Heads, hands and feet are carved and painted in wood; chest, abdomen, and hips are woven with bamboo grates; hemp rope knots legs; and teng sheets and paper rolls are made into arms. The puppet's hands are divided into "Wen" and "Wu". The martial hand is fixed into a fist shape, the fist is hollow, it can be performed with bare hands, and the knife, gun, stick and stick props can be inserted into the fist heart into a grip; the structure of the hand is complex, and its ten fingers are flexible and flexible, and the corresponding hand shape can be made according to different emotions. The puppet's head and neck, arms, elbows, wrists, waist, legs and other joints are flexible.
During the performance, set up a small stage and hang curtains. The curtain is divided into an upper curtain and a lower curtain, the upper curtain is slightly fronted to cover the artist who protrudes out of the upper body to control the puppet; the lower curtain is similar to the bottom curtain, for the puppet to perform in front of the curtain, while covering the artist's lower body and the backstage musician, spare dolls or props.
Precise control
Uemura puppetry is a kind of marionette, and its main techniques are lifting, plucking, hooking, picking, twisting, pinching, flashing, shaking and so on. Under the precise and complex control of the suspension, the puppets sing and dance, and even make complex actions such as opening and closing folding fans, putting on and undressing clothes, wearing and removing hats, moving chairs, pouring wine, taking books, writing, flashing hat wings, picking poles, opening bows and arrows. Some puppets can also make delicate facial expressions such as opening their mouths and blinking.
The Uemura puppet show is performed in the local Hakka dialect. Colloquial singing lyrics are mainly in the seven-sentence style, pay attention to flatness and rhyme, are good at narrative, and are easy to understand. The singing voice is derived from the local Hakka folk song. The themes of the repertoire are mostly historical interpretations, public case novels, folk legends, and mythological stories. While entertaining and educating, it has also better propagated the traditional ideologies and concepts of the Chinese nation, such as being loyal to the king and loving the people, punishing evil and promoting good, neighborhood harmony, and persuading the good to make progress.
Taihe Uemura puppet show is an ancient art that integrates elements of literature, language, music, dance, painting, sculpture, costume, arts and crafts, performance, etc., and has very precious historical, scientific and cultural and artistic value. In 2017, with the approval of the People's Government of Jiangxi Province, it was included in the fifth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative project list.
Source: Jinggangshan News
Editor-in-charge: Xiao Lihua Chen Haiyun