In the chapter titled "Capital's Entertainment Center and the Industry of Arts and Handicrafts" in the book The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendors Past, the record says, "Dingyi and Shouji play a kind of 'qiaoying show'. At that time, there were different types of shadow play. As the demand grew, craftsmen gradually formed a professional trade. This proves that the shadow theater was further developed in the period from the Northern Dynastyto the Southern Dynasty. The puppets are typically made of semi-transparent leather plates. Wulin was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty(1127-1279), and was also known as Lin'an (now Hangzhouin Zhejiang Province). Chinese shadow puppetry is a theatrical art form that dates back thousands of years. This professional trade was recorded in the Former Events in Wulin. In the painting entitled "The Festival of Pure Brightness on the River" by Zhang Zeduan, a well known Song Dynasty genre artist, a puppet show and the like can be seen as an entertainment activity enjoyed by the folks in the capital of Bianliang.ĭuring the Song period, evidence for the prosperous shadow theater can also be obtained from the record of a newly emerging trade of professional craftsmen who carved and made shadow puppets. And its text of dialogue is quite like a narrative textbook of history." The capital referred to here was Bianliang (today's Kaifengof Henan Province), the then capital of the Northern Song Dynasty(960-1127). The emperor Han Wudi was heartsick after the death of his lady, so an advisor invented a way to see the late Empress through shadows. It says: "The shadow show is played by people in the capital with figures and patterns carved and cut out from white paperin the initial stage and later on from painted sheep's skin. It is thought that shadow puppetry originated in China over 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty (140 87 BCE). In An Account of the Capital's Wonders published in the Song period, a general description can be found of the materials that were used to make shadow puppets and the development of their variations as well as the contents of performance. Hence the show of images of the wars among the kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu has been handed down to the present. According to the Records of the Origins of Events by Gao Cheng of the Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, there were some people who could tell Romance of the Three Kingdoms stories or make puppets for a shadow play adapted from the stories. In temples, shadow figures were used as the supposed souls of the dead when their sin was expiated after death by monk preachers in charge of public service.ĭuring the Song Dynasty, it became one type of the prosperous folk arts, combined with the genre of popular entertainment mainly consisting of talking and singing. During that period, it served as a media for the preaching of Buddhist Dharma of transmigration and retribution. According to a survey made by the late writer Sun Kaidi, Chinese shadow play dated back to the mid-or late Tang Dynasty, or the later Five Dynasties(907-960).
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