<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > shadow puppet memory</h1>
Banging gongs and drums, the words are round, on a screen of white cloth, small people turning over the river and the sea are vivid, behind the scenes, more than a dozen masters shake their heads, slightly closed their eyes, "Pedal pedal pedal!" The little drum sounded and the shadow puppet began. In front of the stage, several village boys gathered together, the stage could not sit down, they climbed on the roof, the elderly old man took a fan to transport the wind, shook his head and shook his head to meet the wonderful place, nodded vigorously, the singer suddenly stopped, applause sounded, dozens of people shouted: Miaomiaomiao!
In the 80s of last century, compared with black-and-white television, shadow puppetry was a wonderful open-air movie, with colors and plots, these were the masters who began to sing when they were young, and the singing skills were first-class. In many post-80s memories, the dim light hits the white cloth, the shadow beats on the cloth, you can vaguely see the teacher's hand swaying behind the scenes, sideways look, the teacher's arms are hanging on ten thousand lines, up and down like a wave in the water, sweat flows down the cheek to the neck and does not change the position at all, the general gallops on the battlefield, Wukong makes a big fuss in the heavenly palace, holding the cowhide, singing himself.
In the past 20 years, when shadow puppetry was just popular, the people were barren and helpless, and the pain in their hearts was nowhere to say, most of the stories in the shadow puppet were folk sufferings, folk craftsmen continued to improve, singing, making cowhide, carving, every part was not something that could be done in a day and a half, shadow puppetry enriched the lives of ancient people and became a great visual enjoyment. Nowadays, with the popularity of film and television, shadow puppetry can no longer enter the production life, cumbersome and simple shadow puppetry, has sunk to the bottom of the film industry, shadow puppetry is an art, a culture, but also a memory, an "old movie".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > shadow puppet source</h1>
Shadow puppetry in ancient times was called "shadow play", in a long time ago, shadow puppets are mostly made of cowhide sun-dried, the animal skin is cut into characters, when performing, put a white cloth in front of the cloth, light a candle after the cloth, through the illumination of the light source, the shadow of the character is presented, coupled with manual pulling performance, the "video" of the simple "cartoon" is done.
"Audio" is often the shadow puppet opera team in the singing of the opera, they usually speak a dialect, the shadow puppet play in the character story singing out, at the same time there are special "bands", there are drums, there are erhu, and pipa, this form of combination of the presentation of the way is the original shadow play, in ancient times has a special status, but also represents a side of the cultural atmosphere of water and soil, from a regional point of view, is China's northern region, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu and other places, shadow puppetry is the most widely circulated, although as the most simple way of performance, It can be loved by the majority of people.
In the history of our country, the earliest record of shadow puppet sources is the "Book of Han", more than 2000 years ago, The concubine of Emperor Wu of Han, Lady Li, was seriously ill and drove the crane to the west, as the emperor who loved his concubines, Emperor Wu of Han became increasingly depressed. Later, one day, a minister, Li Shaoweng, saw a child on the road holding a doll in his hand, and the shadow reflection in the water was very interesting, and if this doll was given to the emperor, wouldn't it be beautiful.
Li Shaoweng then carved the doll into the appearance of Lady Li, added paint, made wooden sticks and lines in the back, and finally took a white cloth and handed it to Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wudi of Han wondered: What is the use of this? Li Shaoweng smiled and lit a candle, and the candlelight illuminated Lady Li's shadow, and Emperor Long Yan of the Han Dynasty was excited, which was the earliest source of shadow puppetry.
In ancient times, countries fought frequent wars, and shadow puppetry as a culture was also spread everywhere. Since the Yuan Dynasty, shadow puppetry has been spread overseas, Persia, Turkey, has been loved by many foreigners, and in China, from the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, shadow puppetry began to be popular in the folk, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of lights, this kind of shadow puppetry has entered its peak. It is said that in the folk, no matter what the festival, shadow puppetry has become the most eye-catching program. Every festive season, set up a stage, build a venue, and prepare a shadow puppet play at the temple fair.
After the founding of New China, shadow puppetry as a cultural symbol began to become more popular, and since 1955, shadow puppet theater teams from all over the world have begun to perform abroad, and foreigners have a strong interest in the spread of Chinese culture. In 1982, the shadow puppet master Wang Tianwen was invited to be the design shadow puppetist of the National Museum of History and Folklore of Japan, and the work "Sun Wukong's Great Haunting of the Heavenly Palace" is still collected in the museum.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > shadow puppet production</h1>
As a member of the ancient culture, shadow puppets have formed their own unique characteristics. Wang Tianwen, a shaanxi native, has made outstanding contributions in the development of shadow puppetry. From the age of 12, I began to learn shadow puppetry with my master, when it was still the 60s, there was no advanced technology, only down-to-earth. Wang Tianwen introduced that the oldest shadow puppet uses the "pushing skin and walking knife method" which probably means that the cowhide is placed on the board, the blade is set on it, and then slowly pushes the cowhide to carve out the character image he wants.
This seemingly simple technique is actually quite skilled, which requires strength in the hands and something in the brain. Among Wang Tianwen's hundreds of disciples, there were few who could make shadow puppets, so how to practice such a skill? Wang Tianwen's obsession and love for shadow puppetry is well known to locals, in order to practice shadow puppetry, he hung bricks on his hands from an early age, and slowly reached the ideal state, and was called "the first knife in the world".
In essence, in the later shadow puppet production, a single piece of cowhide can not fully meet the needs of shadow puppet production, people have innovated the selection of various animal skins, but also through the drawing, carving, coloring, ironing eight processes, the production of a set of shadow puppets to hand carve more than 3,000 knives, which is the most cumbersome and precious process in the history of shadow puppetry. In the production of shadow puppets, the animal skins are first washed and soaked in potion, coated with oil and flattened, and then the thin animal skins are carved out like carved furniture. In ancient times, various myths and legends, such as Chang'e Running Moon and the Great Haunting of the Heavenly Palace, were all vividly portrayed.
The formation of the characters is not connected, after all, the animal skin can not have a large area, these figures are often made separately from the body and the head, and then each figure is manipulated with five bamboo poles, in which the lines will be entangled if they are not careful. In the master's teaching, most of the apprentices are learning how to control the shadow puppet, which requires practicing the kung fu on the arm.
A long time ago, shadow puppetry was done by two people or even one person, and when one person not only had to drive the shadow puppet back and forth with his hands, but also sing in his mouth, and play drums under his feet, a performance was not complete. Later, there was a special team, and the shadow puppet also had a place.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > shadow puppet fall</h1>
In 2003, Wang Tianwen experienced 11 months, using cowhide to produce "Qingming On the River Map", which is 23.58 meters long, but at that time, with the popularity of film and television, shadow puppetry has become increasingly depressed, Wang Tianwen realized this, in order to retain the bloodline, he began to try how to use shadow puppetry in movies, in 2011, the foreign film "Kung Fu Panda 2" was released, and the beginning of the animation was borrowed from the Chinese shadow puppet form.
With the combination of Chinese and Western cultures, many foreigners pay more attention to Chinese culture, in 2008, an international student in the United States Annie was deeply attracted by shadow puppetry, specially came to China, walked around to learn shadow puppetry, she felt that shadow puppetry as an ancient "cartoon" performance form, in the world is second to none, this culture should not be buried anyway, she went everywhere to learn art, hoping to become an expert in this field.
Like Wang Tianwen such as the existence of folk shadow puppet masters are not a few, before 2011, shadow puppetry as an art, the reputation in the art circle is very loud, but also positioned as intangible cultural heritage, only in Shaanxi Huaxian County, shadow puppet sales are also rising, in the eyes of modern artists, shadow puppet performance is no longer suitable for society, and the production of shadow puppets this superb skill can not be lost. With this original intention, Wang Tianwen began to teach his disciples how to make shadow puppets from one process after another, when Wang Tianwen was more than 60 years old, he did not want this kind of thing handed down by the ancestors, there was no bloodline.
However, no matter how hard he tried, it had become an indisputable fact that shadow puppets were becoming increasingly depressed in the real world, and there were nearly a hundred of Wang Tianwen's apprentices ten years ago, and now there were few. Wang Tianwen is 70 years old and has watched shadow puppet art sink from under his own eyes. In today's parlance: everyone else goes to the cinema to see a movie, who still goes to see shadow puppets? Nowadays, in some remote areas of the north, although there are still shadow puppet performances in some places, the stage is wonderful, and there is no one under the stage.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > shadow puppet inheritance</h1>
In many post-80s and post-90s childhoods, the memory of shadow puppetry is very small, and with the progress of society, no matter how innovative the shadow puppetry is, it can no longer cater to the market environment. Those who once lived on shadow puppetry, the "team" has been dissolved, in their hearts, shadow puppetry is a culture, should have been passed down, but in the new era of various art forms continue to emerge, children and grandchildren no longer love shadow puppetry, inheritance has become empty talk. The descendants of the shadow puppets have also taken root in the city, and presumably, the shadow puppets carved out of sweat by the ancestors have become a little bit of dusty memory in the warehouse.
Nowadays, in some tourist attractions with strong cultural atmosphere, shadow puppets will appear on the street, or in exhibition halls, displayed on the counter for tourists to visit, and some foreign tourists will pick up and compare them when they see it: how to play this? When culture becomes an ornament, history is only a memory. This is a wordless regret for every shadow puppet. But no matter how much society progresses and develops, the value of shadow puppetry will always exist, and perhaps one day, when someone wipes off the dust and performs shadow puppetry again, it will still shine.