#Chinese puppetry how to#

'We've used thick card and then the pieces are put together with split pins to make a joint,' Ms Stephens said. More than 20 participants were on hand at the weekend to design and cut cardboard into moving puppets to play out the legend of the monkey born from stone who has supernatural powers. 'That's what makes shadow puppets so unique. 'But whatever age you are, you're able to pick up a puppet and have fun. 'It's a really hard skill and I think that shadow puppetry takes much patience and practice,' she said. The collection of Chinese theatre puppets by museums started in the 19th century in the West and now Chinese and Taiwanese museums are catching up rapidly. Shadow puppetsДead Puppet Society artistic associate Helen Stephens organised the workshops. Puppets never die and unlike opera actors remain with us in all their (battered) glory.

#Chinese puppetry how to#

As secular performances with child-friendly puppets also become more common, a more contemporary arm of Chinese puppetry evolves alongside the traditional one.The Chinese legend of the monkey king has been brought to life in a unique way in Brisbane with the use of cardboard, shadow and light.ДЄs part of the BrisAsia Festival, people of all ages have had a go at shadow puppetry - from creating puppets to learning how to perform the popular art form. One of the changes appears to be that many puppeteers now perform more spontaneously, with less technical training in puppet manipulation. In fact, Hokkien puppetry still has a fairly large presence here. Some troupes have also attempted to make modern puppets more adorable to appeal to the younger audience.Д«oth the Hokkien and Henghua branches of Sin Hoe Ping have helped to revive Chinese puppet theatre in Singapore.

Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Andrea Freschi after Antoine Cardon from Henri-Leonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin and Jean Baptiste Joseph Bretons China, Its Costumes, Arts, Manufactures, etc. However, various puppet troupes are increasingly performing beyond temple settings and staging secular puppet shows meant for general public, especially tourists and children. The puppeteer is completely hidden inside a curtained theatre and works the puppets in a window above his head. However, by the Song dynasty, which began in the year 960, puppetry shows were available to people from all walks of life. In China, early puppetry was often exclusively performed for royalty. The common perception that string puppet theatre is meant for rituals means that few had been willing to sponsor string puppet performances for entertainment. It is believed the traditions of Chinese shadow theater stretch back at least 3,000 years. Without an understanding of the dialects used in Chinese puppetry, this art form is now largely limited to the older generation. Fewer younger Singaporeans speak dialects now.

One challenge Chinese puppetry faces is the language barrier. Sin Hoe Ping has also established a Hokkien troupe under the same name that performs both string puppetry and glove puppetry. For Henghua string puppetry, many troupes flourished and perished and the one active troupe is Sin Hoe Ping (ж–°е’Ње№і). As for Teochew iron-stick puppetry, Sin Ee Lye Heng (ж–°жЂЎжўЁе…ґ) is the only troupe active today. Of the two, San Chun Long is the oldest known Hainanese rod puppet troupe in Singapore. Long ago this form of artistic puppetry was used to both entertain the people and communicate important messages. For Hainanese rod puppetry, there are two remaining troupes - San Chun Long (дё‰жҐйљ†) and Tien Heng Kang (ж–°е…ґжёЇзђјеЌ—е‰§з¤ѕ). Shadow puppets are a traditional form of folk art that originated in ancient China.

Puppet troupes include established Hokkien puppetry troupes- Jit Guat Sin (ж—Ґжњ€жџ), which continue to practice their craft although their golden era may have passed. The large size of the Hokkien community and the penetration of the Hokkien language across different dialect groups and ethnic communities in Singapore has also resulted in the popularity of the art form beyond the Hokkien community. Due to the differing waves of Chinese immigrants, the Hokkien and Teochew communities have had longer legacies pertaining to the respective puppet forms in Singapore. The communities involved in Chinese puppetry mirror closely with the five main types of Chinese puppets found in Singapore: Hainanese rod puppets, Teochew iron-stick puppets, Hokkien string puppets, Hokkien glove puppets, and Henghua string puppets.