Shadow play (Dingtao shadow play)

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

Applicant: Dingtao County, Shandong Province

Project No.: 235

Project No.: Ⅳ - 91

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shandong Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Dingtao County, Shandong Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Dingtao District, Heze City

Introduction to shadow play (Dingtao shadow play)

Applicant: Dingtao County, Shandong Province

Shandong Dingtao shadow puppet, also known as "storytelling on paper", is an ancient shadow puppet drama spread from Shanxi immigrants in Ming Dynasty to Dingtao. It has been active in Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hebei and other places for a long time, and still retains the basic production technology, performance form, performance program, original album and ancient shadow box of ancient shadow puppet.

There are more than 250 complete sets of shadow puppets in the ancient shadow box preserved by Dingtao shadow play. These filmmakers are more than one foot tall and are made of cowhide. They are ancient in color, huge in shape and rough in style, showing superb carving skills.

The singing of Dingtao shadow play combines many artistic factors such as other local operas, quyi and folk tunes. The music image is rich and expressive. During the performance, there are six or seven people at least, and ten or twenty people at most. Each of them has a special person in charge of singing, accompaniment and movie manipulation. There are about thirty or forty kinds of plays, which can be performed continuously for more than a month. The most frequently performed plays are the romance of the gods, journey to the west, and the general of the Yang family.

Dingtao shadow play is rich in materials, which is a precious material to study the plastic arts of shadow play in early China.