Culture Insider: Chinese shadow puppetry

Updated: 2014-08-13 07:00 (chinadaily.com.cn)

An artist shows how to make a shadow puppet. [Photo/IC]

2. How to make a shadow puppet?

Different places have different ways of making a shadow puppet, but in general it has to go through several processes, including selecting a skin, making the skin, drawing a sketch, carving, coloring, ironing and embellishing.

First, remove the hair on the animal skin, clean it and using special techniques, make the skin thinner and semitransparent. Then coat the skin with tung oil and draw images of different opera characters on the skin. Next, cut out the figures on the skin with knives of different sizes, and then paint them in different colors.

Female figures are always carved with flower, cloud and phoenix patterns, and hair accessories are specially and elaborately designed. Male figures usually dragon and tiger patterns. Shadow figures will range in height from 10 cm to 55 cm.

Folk artist Jing Tingxiao, 63 years old, presents Daoqing (a folk operetta originated from the chanting of Taoist scriptures) shadow play backstage at Chenqiyuan village in Huanxian county, Qingyang, Northwest China's Gansu province. More...

Folk artists get due honor

For the first time, folk craftsmen and artists from all over China have received national recognition for passing down their traditions. The Chinese National Academy of Arts presented the Xinchuan Award to 60 inheritors of traditional Chinese culture. More...


Puppet opera revitalized in Shanxi	A puppeteer and his puppet performance life	Couples in Shandong preserving puppetry

Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Page