Chinese shadow puppetry | Global Knowledge Systems

Overview

Chinese shadow puppetry is a form of theatre acted by colourful silhouette figures made from leather or paper, accompanied by music and singing. Manipulated by puppeteers using rods, the figures create the illusion of moving images on a translucent cloth screen illuminated from behind. Many elder shadow puppetry artists can perform dozens of traditional plays, which are orally transmitted or found in written form. They master special techniques such as improvisational singing, falsetto, simultaneous manipulation of several puppets, and the ability to play various musical instruments. Many puppeteers also carve the puppets, which can have between twelve and twenty-four moveable joints. Shadow plays are performed by large troupes with seven to nine performers and smaller troupes of only two to five, primarily for entertainment or religious rituals, weddings and funerals and other special...

This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.

Community and Authority

Communities: China
Languages: Not specified in UNESCO dataset
Cultural territories: China
Countries: China

How the System Works

Music, Performance and Oral Literature Language, Story and Memory Material Culture, Design and Technology Ceremony, Spirituality and Cosmology Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Transmission

Sources and Evidence

Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsDataset

Open original source record

Field-Level Provenance

title: UNESCO DataHub field title_en
preferredTitle: UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
summary: UNESCO DataHub field description_en
type: UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
countries: UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
categories: ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
relationships: UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
sourceUrl: UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
rights: UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url

Original Source Metadata

uuid82c294d9-23f5-49ea-822b-70ad3ca264bb

ich_public_ref421

inscription_year2011

title_enChinese shadow puppetry

title_frLe théâtre d’ombres chinoises

type_of_element_enRepresentative List

type_acronymRL

countriesCN

http_url_enhttps://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/00421

concepts_primary_namesInstrumental music, Shadow play, Theatre

concepts_secondary_namesCraft workers, Festivals, Handicrafts, Improvisation, Leather, Musical instruments, Oral tradition, Painting, Paper, Poetry, Religious belief, Representative literary works, Traditional tools, Vocal music

main_image_urlhttps://ich.unesco.org/img/photo/thumb/04834-LRG.jpg

main_image_caption_enNot supplied

main_image_copyrightChina Puppet and Shadow Art Society, 2009

main_image_authorWei Liqun

videoshttps://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/8-mzqxZNp2g

images[object Object], [object Object], [object Object]

Why This Record Is Credible

This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.

Cultural Access

Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.

Relationships

Instrumental music Shadow play Theatre Craft workers Festivals Handicrafts Improvisation Leather Musical instruments Oral tradition Painting UNESCO representative list

Review and Corrections

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