皮影戏 píyǐngxì (Shadow Puppetry)

I'm blessed to have some extremely smart, creative, and passionate friends. Because of their different fields and interests, interacting with them helps me view and understand my surroundings in new ways. For example, my sister can parse words like nobody’s business. My friend who does theater lighting design taught me how to really appreciate light. Another friend, who is an aspiring film director, views her world through a camera lens; whereas I tend to think of things in terms of static images, spending time with her helps me consider other factors like movement and sound.

Most recently, I've had the opportunity to become friends with a puppeteer named Annie. A fellow Fulbrighter, she's spending her grant exploring Chinese shadow puppetry, or "following the puppets" as she likes to put it. More than just researching the art form and its artisans, she's actually cutting them; she calls it "researching with her hands."

Before meeting Annie, I had no idea that China even had shadow puppets, or that they date back so far as the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE; click here for some background info). However, by spending these past few months chatting with her, reading her incredible blog, and visiting where she works in Xi'an, she's helped me dig into into this vibrant, complex ancient Chinese art form.

As a would-be art historian, spending time with artists is always an eye-opening experience. Sure, I can analyze the effects of line, color, shading, and composition, yet I shamefully cannot produce anything of my own. Observing the artistic process first hand—not only the creative, but also the technical side—is always very humbling.

Watching the masters cut, deftly maneuvering their knives through treated sheets of leather, you'd think it's like slicing butter. Annie can assure you first-hand that it’s not. 

Annie cutting leather

Puppet-cutter at work
(maybe it's not immediately obvious, but this is an extremely thick
hide. She had to stand up in order to cut it, yet it still appeared to be effortless)

Again, you’ll have to excuse my fixation on line, but oh, it's magnificent! The precision and detail of the curves, swirls, and jaggedy-bits are truly exquisite. Once you’ve seen a masterfully hand-cut puppet, it’s hard to appreciate anything less--certainly nothing of the machine variety.

Unpainted puppet-head

Painted female head in front of book with puppet prototypes

As if their artistry wasn't enough, never-mind the fact that they move! The puppeteers control them with such finesse, all the while singing in affected dialect. In traditional performances, they’re accompanied by an ensemble of erhu, pipa, and percussion. It’s loud, strident, and janky in the best of all possible ways.

Screen with leather-cut backdrop and puppet to the left

Puppeteer/accompaniment from behind the screen

Before leaving Xi'an, I decided to pick up a few puppets for myself. I walked into a touristy shop along the Muslim Quarter, glanced at the wall, and asked "do you have any hand-cut puppets?" "Wow, you have a good eye," he told me. "Yeah" I responded, "my friend is an expert." 

Thanks, Annie, for bringing puppets into my life.

Friends Annie and Alina playing with a new-style shadow puppet
(It was around this time that they experimented with the moon walk)

Painting studio

An example of furniture/setting accouterments

Small exhibition of puppets by the lead cutting master

Equestrian puppet

Detail of Equestrian puppet

Will you look at her hair?