Illustration of Guangdong Puppet Show-How did Chaoshan Iron Puppet come into being?
There are many kinds of puppet shows in Guangdong, including stick-head puppets, marionettes, iron puppets, cloth puppets and so on. They are distributed in the classical Chinese areas such as Cantonese, Chaozhou dialect, Hakka dialect and Leizhou dialect in the province. The sculpture, manipulation skills and artistic styles of all kinds of puppets are different from each other, which are rich and colorful, and they are all traditional Han art that the broad masses like to see. Gaozhou puppet show: also known as Ghost Play, is a new kind of drama formed by Gaozhou folk artists' continuous absorption, transformation and development. Performed by an artist, it combines singing, doing, blowing and playing. All the props of the puppet show can be loaded in a puppet box. On holidays or during slack seasons, puppet artists will carry puppet boxes on their shoulders, walk around the village, and put a square table in the open space next to the house in the village or in the center of the hall to set up a puppet performance stage. Gaozhou puppet show is mainly based on stick-head puppets, with bag puppets attached. The puppet is exquisitely shaped. After it is made of tough wood, it is painted and decorated with exaggerated methods to make it vivid. Puppet artists can not only make the puppet's head, arms, elbows, wrists, fingers and waist and legs stretch freely, but also make its eyes and mouth open vividly. During the performance, the puppet can be made to open and close the fan, dress, wear a hat, pour wine, take a book, write, bow and shoot arrows, etc., which is accurate and natural. Moreover, a complete set of performing arts, such as puppet operation, singing dialogue, gongs and drums beating, are all completed by one artist. The artist's skilled operation skills, lively singing of Quyi and passionate clicking of gongs and drums are amazing. Gaozhou's single puppet show has been sent to Beijing for many times and won awards.
Puppet shows can be divided into stick puppet shows, bag puppet shows and muppets according to their shapes and operation techniques. According to records, in the third year of Yuanjia in the Southern Dynasty (426), the puppet show with the stick head was introduced from Zhongzhou to Huazhou, and the Yuan Dynasty spread to all parts of our city. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, with the migration of Minnan people to western Guangdong and economic and cultural exchanges, the puppet show of cloth bags was introduced to western Guangdong, and gradually evolved into a "pole-carrying show" in Dianbai, Huazhou and other places. Later, it was combined with the puppet show of Zhangtou to form a single puppet show, and the puppet show of cloth bags no longer existed alone.
Zhangtou puppet show, commonly known as "Ghost Puppet Show", is divided into small classes according to the personnel and equipment of the puppet show class, that is, one-person puppet show, which is performed by one artist; Middle class, 3 to 4 people; Large class, 1 to 15 people. There are more than 3 puppet heads in a class of puppet shows, which are divided into the roles of life, Dan, Jing, Ugly, Martial Life, Xusheng and so on. During the performance, percussion instruments such as gongs, cymbals, drums and wooden fish are used to accompany the entrance and exit. Artists perform according to different performance procedures and movements of the roles, singing different voices of men, women, the elderly and the young and the language characteristics of various roles. The singing of puppet show is based on the popular local folk songs.
during the "cultural revolution", the puppet show in Maoming basically stopped performing, and it didn't recover and develop rapidly until 1978. Guangdong Wuhua is known as the "hometown of puppets", and its puppet show is muppets. Wuhua puppet show was introduced from Fujian in the early Ming Dynasty and has been popular for more than 6 years. In June 28, Wuhua Muppet Opera was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Wuhua puppet show has innovated many difficult skills in performing arts, such as lion dancing, erhu playing, whistling, fan playing, sword drawing, archery, somersault, fire breathing, calligraphy, etc., and achieved the artistic effect of "what an able person can do is beyond what an able person can do".
The puppet calligraphy performance initiated by Li Xinxian, the head of Wuhua County Puppet Troupe, in 2 is known as "the best in the world": the little puppet walked onto the stage with light steps, nodded to the audience, then approached the writing desk, raised his hand, held the pen, dipped it in ink and carried it, and the vigorous calligraphy jumped to the paper. What's even more surprising is that the writing speed and effect of the puppet calligraphy performance are almost the same as those of ordinary people, with exquisite skills. However, what worries the non-legacy protectors is that only two people have mastered this unique skill in China.
puppet shows have been introduced to Wuhua for more than 5 years, mainly distributed in Anliu Town, Zhuanshui Town, Meilin Town, Mianyang Town, Zhoujiang Town, Longcun Town, Hengbei Town, Huayang Town, Shuizhai Town, etc. Modern successors include Li Xinxian and Li Guangyun. Wuhua marionette is exquisitely made and tall, and its facial makeup is quite consistent with the characters in the script, and its modeling is vivid and realistic, which is very popular among the people. He has performed abroad for many times and has been praised by audiences at home and abroad.
Muppets are a treasure of Han folk art in China. We should put the cultivation of talents in an important position that is not inherited, and don't let the folk "unique skills" become "swan songs". "We should actively innovate the way of cultivating non-legacy talents. For example, the government can provide substantial help to inheritors to encourage more people, especially young people, to set foot in non-legacy industries. At the same time, intangible cultural heritage can be written into teaching materials and run through the teaching and learning of primary schools, middle schools and universities. " There are many forms of hundred operas in the Song Dynasty that have been circulating in Chaozhou, such as "topping the drums", "dropping the bucket", "dropping the gong", "flying cymbals" and "playing the suona upside down" and so on. There are also hand-held puppet sets, which are commonly called "puppet shows" and so on. These hundred operas and puppet shows are all related to some music forms and have been broadcast among the people. It is a local drama with puppets, which originated from Quanzhou or Zhangzhou in China in the 17th century and mainly spread in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Chaozhou and Taiwan Province in Guangdong. The head of a puppet is carved into a hollow head with wood. Except for the head, hands and feet of the puppet, the trunk and limbs of the puppet are all made of cloth. When performing, put gloves into the costume of the puppet to perform the puppet performance. It is precisely because the dolls of this type of performance in the early days are very similar to "bags made of cloth", so they have a general name. The performance can be divided into frontcourt and backcourt. The frontcourt is the stage, and the audience can see the puppet master performing on the stage, while the backcourt includes the puppet master, the orchestra and the oral master. No matter what kind of performance, puppet shows need a stage.
in the 19th century, puppet shows developed a corner shed stage, also known as the color building, which added an inclined plane on the left and right front of the stage to attract the audience on the left and right sides. Although the width of the stage was not greatly increased, this angular stage design made the stage space and visual effects more varied. This kind of beautiful and richly decorated stage, although it can attract the audience and is itself a carved work of art, is expensive and difficult to carry, so not all troupes can afford it. Therefore, after it was paid in Taiwan Province in 193, a kind of kanban painted theater shed appeared. The decorative patterns of this kind of stage are all made by surface painting, which is cheap and easy to carry, and the stage effect is not lost to the traditional stage. Chaozhou Iron Puppet originated from the shadow play introduced into Chaozhou from the Central Plains in the Southern Song Dynasty, and spread all over eastern Guangdong and southern Fujian. Its development process is that the plane silhouette gradually goes through the paper shadow of the sun window (plane) and the paper shadow of the round body (three-dimensional) and becomes a puppet, so the manipulation still maintains the characteristics of the shadow play and is called the iron puppet. It is a kind of stick-headed puppet, which is small in size. Its main feature is that this puppet is manipulated by three iron branches, the main pole is placed in the middle of the puppet's back, and the side poles are placed in the left and right arms, which are manipulated by the artist behind the scenes. During the performance, through the manipulation of three iron branches connected behind the idol, various movements are performed by pushing, pulling, lifting, dialing and shaking, and the repertoire, character movements and musical vocals are the same as those of Chaozhou Opera. It is a rare variety of international puppet art and has high research value.
after the Qing dynasty, in order to meet the audience's visual appreciation needs, artists gradually removed the white paper from the stage and changed their idols from flat to round, so they tied grass for their bodies, tied paper for their hands, cut wood for their feet and molded mud for their heads, which was called round paper shadow at that time. After artists' continuous practice, they gradually formed idol stage performances.
The puppet's puppet head is made of red clay. Sun-dried, baked and shaped. Then painted with waterproof pigments, painted into the faces of various characters according to their different roles, and put on different costumes during the performance, they became vivid opera characters.
With the change of people's art appreciation fashion, the performance market is shrinking day by day; Puppet classes are mostly semi-agricultural and semi-artistic, and they are loose amateur art groups. It is difficult to study and inherit puppet shows, especially some difficult performance skills are facing loss, so effective measures must be taken to protect and inherit them. How did Chaoshan Iron Puppet come into being?
The iron puppet, also known as the iron puppet or the paper shadow play, is a popular folk puppet drama in eastern Guangdong. During the performance, the iron puppet is manipulated with the iron wire on its body, which is its greatest feature. Because it originated in Chaozhou, it is also called Chaozhou puppet show.
The earliest iron puppet was developed from shadow play, which was introduced to Chaozhou by immigrants from southern Fujian at the end of the Song Dynasty. What are the characteristics of iron puppets?
is characterized by its strong local flavor; Taking singing as its main artistic feature; Unique performing arts.
iron puppet, also known as iron puppet or paper shadow play, is an ancient local traditional art, which is mainly popular among folk puppet operas in the eastern part of Guangdong Province (
Chaoshan area
). During the performance, the iron puppet is manipulated with the wire on its body, which is its greatest feature. Because it originated in Chaozhou, some people call it Chaozhou puppet show.
By the beginning of the 2th century, the Tiezhi Puppet Troupe in Chaozhou had used embroidered curtains as the curtain, put small tables and props on the stage for performance, and even used wood cutting to sing Chaozhou Opera tunes. So far, Chaozhou Puppet Troupe was initially formed.
The puppet's puppet head is made of red mud, dried and baked, and then painted with waterproof pigments. According to different roles, it is painted into the faces of various characters, and when performing, it is dressed in different costumes, thus becoming a vivid opera character.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chaozhou shadow puppetry was transformed into a puppet with straw as the body, mud head, paper hands and wooden feet, and a hard iron wire was attached to the back and hands to manipulate the performance.
When a troupe performs, it is necessary to set up a stage, which is covered with straw mats, and the puppeteers sit cross-legged. The person sitting in the center of the stage is generally a junior artist, called Chinese opera, and the person on the left is called deputy drama, which is the second-in-command to manipulate the puppet. The person on the right side of the stage is called drama, which is the core figure of the troupe. Nowadays, in the popular dialects in Chaozhou, "those who hold the drama" are compared to the person in charge of a unit.