What is Chinese shadow puppetry called?
Shadow puppetry, or Shadow Play, was very popular during the Tang (618 – 907) and Song (960 – 1279) dynasties in many parts of China. Shadow puppets were first made of paper sculpture, later from the leather of donkeys or oxen. That’s why their Chinese name is pi ying, which means shadows of leather.
What do you call the type of shadow play?
Shadow puppetry — also called shadow play — got its start thousands of years ago in China and India. This unique form of storytelling is the oldest type of puppetry in the world. Shadow puppets are figures that are placed between a light and a screen.
Why is Chinese shadow puppetry important?
Through their performances, shadow plays work to pass on historical stories, social morals and cultural myths from generation to generation. The roots of shadow puppetry in China can be traced back to the early Han Dynasty, where the practice served as a form of entertainment reserved only for nobility.
What is Chinese shadow play?
Chinese shadow puppetry is a form of theatre acted by colourful silhouette figures made from leather or paper, accompanied by music and singing. Manipulated by puppeteers using rods, the figures create the illusion of moving images on a translucent cloth screen illuminated from behind.
What forms of shadow puppets is found in China?
The props used in Chinese shadow puppetry are mainly made from animal skins, cow, donkey, goat, horse, mule, etc. The animal skins are pressed, engraved, and dyed to form the shape of human characters, birds and beasts, and background objects.
What are Chinese shadow puppets made of?
What is a type of puppet shadow play?
Wayang kulit is a form of traditional theatre in Southeast Asia. It involves a puppet shadow play performance with origins that are possibly linked to the Indian shadow play.
Is type of puppet shadow play performed?
shadow play, type of theatrical entertainment performed with puppets, probably originating in China and on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali. Flat images are manipulated by the puppeteers between a bright light and a translucent screen, on the other side of which sits the audience.
Where is Chinese shadow puppetry performed?
Shadow play is an old tradition and it has a long history in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. It has been an ancient art and a living folk tradition in China, India, Iran and Nepal.