Shadow Puppets Display Charm of Ice Sports
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Shadow Puppets Display Charm of Ice Sports
ByZhang Jiamin March 11, 2022 |
| Wang Xi, an inheritor of Beijing's craft of making shadow puppets |
As the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games (scheduled to be held in February) are looming around the corner, more and more people the world over are becoming increasingly interested in ice sports. Beijing Longzaitian Shadow Play Theater during the past year has put much effort into exploring ways to integrate the traditional art form (shadow play) with elements of the Games. On January 17, the theater staged its first shadow play (with the theme of the Games), Looking for the Snow Girl.
Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is one of the world's oldest forms of folk plays. While they tell stories, puppeteers manipulate the figurines, which are made from donkey hide, cowhide or paperboard, behind a translucent screen. In 2008, Beijing's craft of making shadow puppets was listed among the second group of elements designated national intangible cultural heritage. The art form was added to the list of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)'s intangible cultural heritage in 2011.
China Central Television (CCTV) recently broadcast Ice Games, a section of Looking for the Snow Girl. Wang Xi, an inheritor of Beijing's craft of making shadow puppets, and who is head of Beijing Longzaitian Shadow Play Theater, led the theater's puppeteers in using the figurines to display the charm of various ice sports (including ice hockey, curling and figure skating). Given their fertile imagination and strong creativity, the figurines' designers endowed their artworks with "souls." "When I learned Beijing won the bid (in July 2015) to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, I decided to create shadow plays integrated with elements of the Games ... For the first time in our lives, we created and played a shadow play with the theme of the Games, and from that we felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment," Wang has been quoted as saying.
Longzaitian has also created earrings, car ornaments and other ice-themed knickknacks. Under the guidance of Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, Beijing Longzaitian Shadow Play Art Center for the Disabled has created a set of wall lamps, made of shadow play figurines, in the shapes of athletes involved in 15 ice sports. The figurines' sports suits are decorated by various auspicious patterns, including phoenixes and peonies. The lamps are protected under intellectual property rights (IPRs), as the IPRs have been issued by the National Copyright Administration. The lamps earned the center first prize during the crafts competition, held by Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, in November 2021, to usher in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
People were impressed by Yuanmingyuan in 1860, the shadow play broadcast online in August 2020. The work was created to pay tribute to the heroes, who tried their best to protect Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Splendor, in Beijing), even at the cost of their lives. Beijing Longzaitian Shadow Play Theater created the play based on the historical incident that Yuanmingyuan was razed by Anglo-French Allied Forces in 1860. By applying acousto-optic technologies, the play combines live actions and shadow play figurines' movements. As the theater was closed due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, the play was broadcast, online, with the support of China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF, under the All-China Women's Federation). The theater's employees, most of whom were little people, manipulated the figurines. Wang Jinqiang, Secretary-General of Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, recently told media the play contains various positive meanings, to inspire patriotism among minors.
The theater, which has 48 employees (including 36 little people), boasts the largest shadow play art troupe in China. During the past decade, the theater has created and performed more than 80 shadow plays, which have been viewed by more than one million viewers.
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| Wang Xi, an inheritor of Beijing's craft of making shadow puppets |
Photos Supplied by the Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly January 2022 issue)
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