Shadow play (Xiaoyi shadow play)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Shadow Play (Xiaoyi shadow play)

Applicant: Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province

Protection unit: Xiaoyi Cultural Center

Brief introduction of shadow play (Xiaoyi shadow play)

Applicant: Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province

Shadow play is a kind of opera form that uses animal skin or cardboard to cut images and uses light to illuminate the cut images to perform stories. Its popularity is very wide, almost all over the country's provinces and regions, and forms a variety of shadow plays due to the different voices, such as Huaxian shadow play, Huayin laoqiang shadow play, agongqiang shadow play, xianbanqiang shadow play in Shaanxi, Daoqing shadow play in Huanxian County in Gansu, Wanwanqiang shadow play in Xiaoyi County in Shanxi, Tangshan Shadow Play in Hebei, Southern Hebei shadow play, Zhejiang shadow play Haining shadow play, Jianghan Plain shadow play in Hubei, Lufeng shadow play in Guangdong, Fuzhou shadow play and Lingyuan shadow play in Liaoning, etc.

The formation age of shadow play has not yet been determined, but according to the records of Menghua records in Tokyo written by Meng Yuanlao in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was mature and popular in the Song Dynasty at the latest. There were nine actors in the vashe of Bianliang in Tokyo, including Dong Shiwu, Zhao Qi and Cao Baoyi. There is a picture of shadow play in the Jin Dynasty mural of Wenshu Hall of Yanshan temple in Fanshi, Shanxi Province, which vividly shows the actual situation of Shanxi shadow play performance at that time. After the development of song, Jin, yuan and Ming Dynasties, shadow puppet shows a prosperous situation in Qing Dynasty.

Although there are many kinds of shadow play, the differences are mainly in the aspects of voice and repertoire, while the production and performance techniques of filmmakers are similar. Generally, the film makers scrape off the blood of the cattle skin, donkey skin and sheep skin, process them into translucent shape, and then carve them with color. The carving and drawing process is exquisite, and the shape is realistic. Generally, filmmakers are divided into head, body, limbs and other parts, all of which are silhouettes. The head is attached with helmets, and the body and limbs are dressed. After painting, they are baked and flattened with firebricks. During the performance, the actor's head is inserted into the body, and the body and limbs are connected. At the same time, three bamboo cuttings are installed on the body and hands to operate the performance. In addition to character modeling, we also need to carve some props, tables, chairs and scenery modeling to match the performance.

The main props are shadow windows, commonly known as "Liangzi", which are generally 3 feet high, 5 feet wide, no more than 4 feet high and no more than 6 feet wide. They are made of white paper for single person operation. The second is an oil lamp, which is used to reflect the movie player and perform the action.

Shadow play is an important traditional folk art in China. In recent years, due to the impact of modern film and television art, the audience and performance market are decreasing day by day. Many shadow plays are facing the danger of extinction and need to be rescued and protected.

Xiaoyi shadow play is an important branch of shadow play in China, which is popular in Xiaoyi city of Shanxi Province. According to historical records, Xiaoyi shadow puppet in the song and Jin dynasties had class rules and sculptors, which shows that Xiaoyi shadow puppet has developed mature in the song and Jin Dynasties. According to expert research, Xiaoyi shadow play originated in the Warring States period and is one of the earliest birthplaces of shadow play in China.

Piqiang is the melody of shadow play. Because suona is the main accompaniment instrument of piqiang music, it is also called Xiaoyi chuqiang. Xiaoyi tune is one of the earliest folk tunes in China.

Xiaoyi shadow play uses hemp paper to paste the window as the screen, and relies on the sesame oil lamp hanging behind the paper window to light the shadow, so it is also called "lamp shadow" and "paper window". The general paper window area is 1.75m × 1.21m. The paper window paste system has strict paper cutting, rough edge, matching, pasting, leveling and other five processes, the window is smooth and flawless.

Before the Ming Dynasty, Xiaoyi shadow puppet was made of sheep's skin, with a height of 58-60cm, commonly known as "two feet shadow". By the Qing Dynasty, the height of the shadow puppet was reduced to 42-48cm, commonly known as "wuchiying". The three-year-old cow leather was the best material for carving. Xiaoyi shadow play is rough, concise and exaggerated, powerful and charming.

The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the heyday of Xiaoyi shadow puppet. There were more than 60 shadow puppet troupes in Xiaoyi, and then gradually declined. In 1956, Xiaoyi puppet and shadow puppet art troupe was established, which was abolished during the cultural revolution. In 1978, he resumed shadow play performance, participated in the first China Art Festival, and went to Britain to exchange and visit performances. In 1995, the image of general in Xiaoyi shadow play was recognized by the people all over the country as a stamp pattern. Xiaoyi shadow play is rich in repertoire, now has a collection of more than 200, these scripts have a wide range of themes, rich content, and great academic value. The research on the formation and development of Xiaoyi shadow play is helpful to explore the internal law of the occurrence and evolution of Chinese opera, and to understand the original singing structure of piqiang.