Shadow play (a gong Qiang)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Shadow Play (a gong Qiang)

Applicant: Fuping County, Shaanxi Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Fuping County, Shaanxi Province

Protection unit: Fugong opera troupe of Fuping County

Introduction to shadow play (a gong Qiang)

Applicant: Fuping County, Shaanxi 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.

Agongqiang is a unique branch of shadow play in the central and Northern Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province (Liquan, Xianyang, Jingyang, Gaoling, Lintong, Yaoxian, Fuping and other cities and counties). The melody of his singing is not heavy and impetuous, clear and graceful, and his singing is characterized by "turning high", "low suppression" and "one singing and three suppression". A gong Qiang music is good at depicting and expressing the complex psychological activities of characters. For example, Jiao Guiying's aria in the romance of Wang Kui is sad and heartbreaking; Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen in the story of the White Snake sing each other with an umbrella; Lei Gang's cry in the cuckoo mountain is loud and stirring. These classic Arias are not only loved by the audience, but also affirmed by the experts and colleagues in the drama field. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, it is a development and innovation for Agong opera to move from shadow play to the stage. In 1961, he performed in Beijing, which was praised by the central government and people in Beijing Opera circles. Over the years, the dramas such as song of the four seasons, two families and three girls have won awards from the Ministry of culture and the provincial level. However, in the past decade, it has developed slowly and is on the verge of extinction, which needs urgent rescue and protection.