Shadow play (Lingyuan shadow play)

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

Applicant: Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Liaoning Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province

Protection unit: Lingyuan education, culture and Health Service Center

Brief introduction of shadow play (Lingyuan shadow play)

Applicant: Lingyuan City, Liaoning 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.

Lingyuan shadow play is an important branch of shadow play in northern China, which has a history of more than 300 years. In the process of inheritance and development, it has formed a distinctive artistic style and unique artistic charm -- the filmmakers are exquisitely carved, the manipulation and performance are vivid, and the singing is unique. In 1996, the Ministry of Culture named Lingyuan as "the hometown of Chinese folk art (shadow play art)". On September 17, 1999, when he Jingzhi, former Minister of culture, visited thousands of films collected by Lingyuan, he said: "Lingyuan's films can be the best in the country.".

Lingyuan shadow play is not only a household name in the local area, but also has a great influence at home and abroad. It has won the championship in provincial and municipal shadow play performances for many times, and performed for the central leaders and international friends. CCTV and Liaoning TV station have shot many TV works in Lingyuan, such as "bitter shadow play", "Walking Horse Lingyuan visiting shadow play", "shadow fans" and drama packaging shadow play "Flame Mountain". Among them, the TV feature film "the charm of lamp and shadow" was selected to the embassies and consulates abroad, and "Shadow Dance" was selected to participate in the Sino French cultural exchange activities in 2004.

Lingyuan shadow play is a pure folk art. Although it had its heyday, there were 120 professional shadow play troupes with self entertainment, half agriculture and half art in the whole city. At present, due to the impact of modern culture and the death of old artists, Lingyuan shadow play art has no successors. It is urgent to rescue and protect Lingyuan shadow play.