SWATOW HORIZONTAL STICK PUPPETS
77
being 2-3 feet high but cannot remember how they were manipulated. They were probably Fukienese string-puppets, which would not be surprising, as Fukienese Min-nan opera groups were popular in Ch'aochow, so why not Fukienese puppets? In Mr. Su's home, in Ch'aochow city, the greatest pleasure children derived was to play their own leather-shadow puppets behind the paper-screen. Besides the ceremonial puppet-shows at the temple festivals there were always puppet-shows performed for public entertainment in those days. He recalls that the leather shadow-puppets were by far the most interesting to watch.
Apart from traditional subjects, they offered a kind of political cabaret caricaturing the confusion after the 1911 Revolution or performing an amusing burlesque. They are said to have given realistic renderings of the feats and behaviour of the warlords and bandits who roamed the country between 1911 and the 1930s. These street performances were usually given by a team of two opera-singers who were too old to perform on stage. From a bamboo pole balanced on their shoulders hung a bundle of personal belongings at the rear end, and a trunk containing puppets, stage, and musical instruments at the front end. The two would set up their bamboo-frame stage in a rich private house or a public square, adjusting their lamp behind the paper-screen. They manipulated the puppets, spoke, sang, and played musical instruments using their mouths, hands, and feet simultaneously.
One very special occasion in Ch'aochow was the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the first moon, when puppets were of prime importance. In the evening, a crowd would throng the streets to find a place at one of the many puppet-performances. Street-vendors offered puppets, with delicate heads made of clay and complete with clothes, for sale. The puppets looked exactly like those for performances, but were immovable and had no sticks at their hands or back. If parents wished to have a son or a daughter, or a groom or bride for their children, they would buy an appropriate doll on this day and keep it at home.
The transition from shadow to round puppets is clearly stated in the Chinese literary sources.* It is there repeated that shadow-puppets came to Ch'aochow in the Sung dynasty and were always performed behind a paper-screen on a bamboo-frame called chu-chuang44* (bamboo-window); and that by the end of last century
* See Liu and Sun under Bibliography to this article.
SWATOW HORIZONTAL STICK PUPPETS
77
being 2-3 feet high but cannot remember how they were manipula- ted. They were probably Fukienese string-puppets, which would not be surprising, as Fukienese Min-nan opera groups were popular in Ch'aochow, so why not Fukienese puppets? In Mr. Su's home, in Ch'aochow city, the greatest pleasure children derived was to play their own leather-shadow puppets behind the paper-screen, Besides the ceremonial puppet-shows at the temple festivals there were always puppet-shows performed for public entertainment in those days. He recalls that the leather shadow-puppets were by far the most interesting to watch.
Apart from traditional subjects, they offered a kind of political cabaret caricaturizing the confusion after the 1911 Revolution or performing an amusing burlesque. They are said to have given rea- listic renderings of the feats and behaviour of the warlords and bandits who roamed the country between 1911 and the 1930s. These street performances were usually given by a team of two opera- singers who were too old to perform on stage. From a bamboo pole balanced on their shoulders hung a bundle of personal belong- ings at the rear end, and a trunk containing puppets, stage and mu- sical instruments at the front end. The two would set up their bamboo-frame stage in a rich private house or a public square, adjusting their lamp behind the paper-screen. They manipulated the puppets, spoke, sang and played musical instruments using their mouths, hands and feet simultaneously.
One very special occasion in Ch'aochow was the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the first moon, when puppets were of prime importance. In the evening a crowd would throng the streets to find a place at one of the many puppet-performances. Street-vendors offered puppets, with delicate heads made of clay and complete with clothes, for sale. The puppets looked exactly like those for performances, but were immovable and had no sticks at their hands or back. If parents wished to have a son or a daughter, or a groom or bride for their children, they would buy an appropriate doll on this day and keep it at home.
The transition from shadow to round puppets is clearly stated in the Chinese literary sources.* It is there repeated that shadow- puppets came to Ch'aochow in the Sung dynasty and were always performed behind a paper-screen on a bamboo-frame called chu- chuang 44* (bamboo-window); and that by the end of last century
* See Liu and Sun under Bibliography to this article.
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