Humanoid statues carved out of wood are commonly known as puppets. In Europe, the dolls are represented by female bodies with obvious genital worship characteristics and full breasts and abdomen in the middle and late Paleolithic Age (about 1.7 million to 10,000 years ago). In China, such dolls occurred in the middle and late Neolithic period (about 10,000-3,500 years ago), and are represented by late stone carvings, pottery sculptures, and clay sculptures of the Hongshan culture. Archaeologists generally believe that the combination of wood and stone is a characteristic of primitive times, and although wooden idols have not been found in past archaeological discoveries, this is because wood is difficult to preserve, and it cannot be denied that puppets existed in primitive times. Therefore, it is inferred that in the primitive era of religious worship, these idols (the predecessors of puppets), which were only a few centimeters high, were probably worshiped and danced in the hands of primitive ancestors, and even necessary ritual tools in dance.
Maid Warriors (Han)
The appearance of puppets can be traced back to the custom of slave burial in the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC-11th century BC), and more than 3,000 clay figurines of slaves with flail have been excavated from the Yin Ruins of Anyang. In the Warring States period (476-221 BC), figurines began to appear for entertainment. According to records, the use of puppets as a tool for performing arts first began in the Han Dynasty, because the text "dancing puppetry" appeared in the early years of the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, puppet performances matured, and at that time, puppets were able to imitate human performances, such as jumping pills, throwing swords, handstands, drumming, and blowing the flute. During the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577 AD), the technique of using the power of water to make "mechanical wooden figures" was taken to a higher level.
"Water Turns to a Hundred Operas"
During the Three Kingdoms period (220-265 AD), Ma Jun used the flow of water to create some wooden figures that could beat drums, blow the flute, jump pills, throw swords, and stand upside down. This kind of "water to a hundred operas" is actually a direct imitation of the "hundred operas" such as singing, dancing and acrobatics performed by people in the Western Han Dynasty more than 300 years ago.
Soraku Wooden Figurines (Han)
In the Sui Dynasty, there was a large-scale "water ornament" performance, using wooden figures to perform various historical fragments, so far the performance skills of Chinese puppets have been very exquisite, can skillfully imitate human movements, and then imitate the performance of human drama and form their own unique theatrical form. In the Tang Dynasty, under the background of the unprecedented development of various arts, puppet art, which mainly imitates people, also absorbed different forms of artistic expression and achieved rapid development. Various data show that various forms of puppet show such as "marionettes", "bell puppets", and "cane-headed puppets" have appeared in the Tang Dynasty. By the time the art of opera took shape in the Song Dynasty, puppet theatre also entered an unprecedented period of prosperity, when there were various forms of puppet performances, which were basically inherited by later generations. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, puppet shows penetrated into various places and combined with local operas to form a variety of local puppet show characteristics, such as the Heyang line opera in Shaanxi Province and the puppet show in Zhangzhou, Fujian.
The Quanzhou string puppet troupe is performing in various countries
Puppet theatre was in decline during the war, but soon flourished again after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and the performances of artists who traveled south and north to make a living by performing arts were deeply loved by the general public, and also accumulated experience for the development of puppet theatre later. After 1949, except for a small number of private puppet troupes, most of the puppet troupes formed puppet troupes funded by the government, which provided economic and talent guarantees for improving the artistic level of puppet shows, and held the "National Puppet Show and Shadow Puppet Show Observation and Performance Meeting" in 1955, 1960, 1975 and 1981 respectively to promote the development of puppet show at all levels. During this period, on the basis of inheriting the traditional repertoire, various troupes developed a large number of modern operas, also known as "civilized new operas", the so-called "civilized new operas" refers to the fact that since the fifties of the twentieth century, under the situation of the times full of passion for life, China has shot a large number of puppet films that reflect the characteristics and concepts of the times at that time. Since the end of the 70s, he has also filmed the multi-episode series "Avanti", "The Great Thief", which uses foreign children's stories, and "Fish Plate", an environmental protection film that reflects the pollution of human living space, which is a breakthrough in Chinese puppet art. Since the 80s of the 20th century, puppet troupes from all over the country have been invited to visit and perform abroad, and through the international exchange activities of "going out" and "inviting in", Chinese puppets have not only maintained their national characteristics, but also learned from foreign experiences and carried forward Chinese puppet art on the basis of tradition.
Marionettes in the twenties and thirties
The modified puppet has a body proportions that are closer to those of a real person.