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HELGA WERLE
(sun-win-
a glass-screen came into fashion called yang-chuang dow). With the glass-screen the puppets became round, their bodies were made of straw, hands and feet of paper, the head of clay, the costumes were copied from the string-puppets, sticks were attached to the hands and the back, and then these puppets were called yuan-shen chih-ying-hsi | ✯✯✯ (round-body paper-shadow play). Later, it is stated, the glass-screen was discarded and curtains were attached to the bamboo-frame, but nevertheless it continued to be called 'Paper-shadow-play'.
All over China the shadow-play was called p'i-ying-hsi ★BA "Leather-shadow-play" because the figures were cut out of leather, but in Ch'aochow strangely enough this term was never used. Referring to the paper-screen it was always, and is still now, called "Paper-shadow-play" and I met several Ch'aochowese who were convinced that their shadow-figures were cut out of paper. The misinterpretation is probably due to the name.
This description of development suggests many questions. Why should a light, convenient and cheap paper-screen be given up for a glass-screen, which is heavy, expensive, easy to break and almost impossible to transport? How should a hawking puppeteer carry a delicate glass-screen with his bundle and box? Was the fascination of the newly imported foreign glass-windows so great that they were adopted for the 'paper-shadow-play' in order to lend it new attraction? And if there was a glass-screen, was it translucent imitating the paper-effect or was it transparent window-glass? This question is important, because the difference would decisively influence the shape of the puppet. The name 'Sun-window' could also suggest that the shadow was not produced by an oil-lamp, but sunlight.
Old Ch'aochowese vividly recall impressions of the shadow of puppets appearing on a paper-screen, but I heard no one speaking of glass. Being unable to find a logical reason for adopting a glass-screen, I would like to consider it the invention of an author who tried unsuccessfully to explain the disappearance of shadow-puppets in Ch'aochow.
Some Characteristics of Ch'aochow Puppet Opera
I turn now to consider various aspects of Ch'aochow puppet history. Among these, the patron saint of puppets shows certain interesting characteristics. Whilst the Peking opera actors venerate the emperor T'ang Ming Huang (713-742), who was the founder of