Shadow play (Huanxian Daoqing shadow play)

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

Applicant: Huan County, Gansu Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Gansu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Huan County, Gansu Province

Protection unit: Huanxian Daoqing shadow play Protection Center

Introduction to shadow play (Huanxian Daoqing shadow play)

Applicant: Huan County, Gansu 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.

Huan county is subordinate to Qingyang City, Gansu Province. It is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, covering an area of 9236 square kilometers. It has jurisdiction over 20 townships (towns), with a population of 340000. It was once a place where Xiongnu, Qiang, Rong, Di and other ethnic groups communicated with each other and where ancient Qinlong culture and multi-ethnic culture collided and fused with each other. Its special geographical location and profound cultural heritage gave birth to the folk art of "Huanxian Daoqing shadow play".

Huanxian Daoqing shadow play is a combination of Daoqing and shadow play, which has a history of thousands of years. Through the vicissitudes, the unique Daoqing shadow play in Huanxian has been formed. Through the reform and innovation of Xie Changchun, the "Daoqing shadow puppet master" in the late Qing Dynasty, it has become more perfect. It is in perfect harmony with the local people's customs and beliefs, forming a regional distribution situation with Huanxian as the center and extending to the surrounding Huachi, Qingcheng, Yanchi of Ningxia, Dingbian of Shaanxi and other counties. Its value is mainly reflected in the beautiful and unique Daoqing music singing and exquisite shadow play production and performance. During the performance of the troupe, one person at the front stage performs, and takes on all the roles of sitting singing and chanting, while four or five people at the back stage accompany and sing "Ma Huang", which is a kind of singing, bold, high pitched and unique style. Daoqing music is a fine-tuning style, which is divided into "Shangyin" and "Huayin". It is sung at the speed of flat board and flying board, with the coexistence of Qupai style and Banti style. Its accompaniment instruments, such as Sixian, Yugu, shubangzi and Jianban, are all self-made with unique timbre. Among the more than 180 plays sung, there are still some ancient cultural symbols such as "picture" and "volume". There are thousands of original shadow puppets of Qing Dynasty in the collection and folk circulation, which are of great artistic and research value.

According to the census, there are 47 troupes, 285 artists and more than 40 shadow carvers in the county. In the 1950s, Huanxian Daoqing shadow play performed in Beijing for three times, which was highly praised by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders, and finally developed into the only local drama in Gansu Province - Longju.