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Shanghai City Theater|Parent-child shadow puppetry of the century-old theater troupe Journey to the West: "Three Dozens of Bones", "Flame Mountain", "Zhu Bajie Carrying a Wife", the warm winter is coming, let's dream back to childhood together!

Not long ago, the concept preview of "Wu Chengen's Hunting Monsters" was announced

#Wu Chengen's First Animation#

Received 6.79 million views on Weibo!

"Journey to the West" is the well-deserved first Chinese classical IP

There have been many different forms of adaptation over the years

It has become a unique childhood memory for each generation of audience

From China's animation film milestone "Havoc in Heaven"

Chinese animation, "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" reached a score of 8.3 on Douban

Each work has its own characteristics

Bringing different emotions to audiences of all ages

In addition to animation, do you know that there is also "Wukong" in the form of the quintessence of Chinese culture?

Presented through the intangible cultural heritage of "shadow puppetry"

Panoramic wide format, luxury giant shadow puppetry "Journey to the West"

Tell the story of the ages in one mouth, and dance with millions of soldiers with both hands!

Ma Demin, a leading figure in the world of shadow puppetry

With the century-old theater troupe, Ma's shadow puppetry performance

December 18, 2022

Meet again at Poly Shanghai City Theater

Take your children to experience the heroic feelings in the quintessence of China!

One screen, two worlds. The audience in front of the stage waited with bated breath, and the performers behind the stage danced with their fingertips. The sound of wooden clappers piercing through the dim light, swaying gracefully under the gray and white curtain. Shadow puppetry, as an ancient art that can be passed down for thousands of years, traverses and travels in the depths, stirring up waves of time...

Shadow puppetry is an ancient traditional Chinese folk art. During the performance, the performers hide behind the white curtain, while manipulating the shadow puppetry, while telling stories with popular tunes from various places. They can also be accompanied by percussion instruments and strings, deducing a strong local flavor and personal style.

Parent-child shadow puppetry "Journey to the West", the quintessence of intangible cultural heritage, is coming! Let us experience the charm of intangible cultural heritage up close!

01 Introduction to shadow puppetry

The three-foot raw silk makes a stage, all with ten fingers to be witty

Sometimes under the bright moonlight window, a smile still comes from the palm.

Shadow Puppets, also known as "shadow play" or "light shadow play", is a kind of folk drama in which silhouettes of characters made of animal skin or cardboard are used to perform stories.

During the performance, the entertainers are behind the white curtain, manipulating the filmmakers while telling stories with popular local tunes. Chinese shadow puppetry is a kind of Chinese drama and one of the inherent folk arts of our country, and it is a traditional national quintessence that is rarely preserved today. As a form of shadow culture and entertainment, shadow puppetry skillfully combines folk sculpture and painting skills, and at the same time absorbs the essence of traditional opera, performance and literature and art, and has become an important part of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation.

Shadow puppetry has been popular in China for a long time. On November 27, 2011, Chinese shadow puppetry was included in the "List of Representative Works of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity". Its performance method is very simple. One projection screen, a bunch of warm yellow lights, a few craftsmen and their shadow puppets are enough to stage a big show.

02 Lineup

Inheritance of non-heritage, experience the heritage and charm of traditional Chinese culture "Mashi Shadow Puppetry" century-old theater troupe, founded in the late Qing Dynasty, has been passed down for six generations to the present. Ma Demin, a master of shadow puppetry, is known as the leading figure in the shadow puppet world, and is also a representative of Tangshan shadow puppetry in Hebei. Ma Jing, the shadow puppet master, is the sixth-generation successor of Ma's shadow puppetry. He learned from his father Ma Demin, and is better than blue. Boldly innovated on the basis of exquisite traditional shadow puppet art, fully respecting the aesthetic and cultural needs of audiences, big and small, in both action design and visual presentation of stage art, thus creating the well-known theater art form of modern shadow puppetry.

Ma's shadow puppet team came to Poly Shanghai City Theater again to present a visual feast of traditional Chinese skills with exquisite shadow puppetry + interesting shadow puppet interaction.

The repertoire of Ma's shadow puppetry has a variety of themes, ranging from world classics to modern fables, from mythological dramas to science fiction dramas, covering both ancient and modern China and foreign countries. A batch of excellent repertoires that have been performed for a long time, such as "Monkey King Fights the Bone Demon", "Pig Bajie Carrying His Wife", "Flame Mountain", "Havoc in Heaven", "Mulan", "Wu Song Fights the Tiger", "The Tortoise and the Hare" ", "Mr. Dongguo and the Wolf", "The Fox and the Crow", etc., have been loved by audiences of young children.

03 Awards

China's top 100 intangible cultural heritage figures

World Intangible Cultural Heritage Feast Bronze Award

Member of the Handicraft Development Committee of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Artists Association

Famous Folklore Collector in Hebei Province

 

04   Introduction to the show

Journey to the West

Play 1: "Pig Bajie Carrying His Daughter-in-law"

Tang Monk and his disciples went to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures. In order to punish the gluttonous and lazy Zhu Bajie, Monkey King turned into a young lady and married him. The play's music is humorous and cheerful, and the action is lively and funny, which is deeply loved by children.

Play 2 "Flame Mountain"

"Flame Mountain" is a bold innovation based on the original work, skillfully integrating modern sound, light, electricity and other effects, and applying the elements of the famous western song "Spanish bullfight dance" to the fighting scene between Monkey King and the Bull Demon King. At the same time, relying on the unique melodious singing voice of Hebei shadow puppetry, the delicate shape of the shadow puppet, and the skilled manipulation skills, it gives people a refreshing audio-visual enjoyment.

Play Three "Sun Wukong Three Fights the Bone Demon"

The four Tang monks, masters and apprentices, traveled to Baiguling to learn the scriptures. In the Bone Cave of Bone Ridge, there lived a cruel, cunning, and good at disguising corpse demon Bone Demon. In order to eat Tang's monk's meat, he transformed into a village girl who went up to the mountain to deliver fast, an old woman and an old man who went to the mountain to offer incense, all of which were seen through by Monkey King. Tang Seng didn't distinguish between monsters, but instead blamed Monkey King for wanton violence, killing both mother and daughter, violating the precepts. The white bones were unwilling to be reconciled, and became the old man for the third time and were seen through by Monkey King. Taking advantage of Tang Monk's kindness, Bone Demon floated plain silk from the sky in the name of Buddha, and blamed Tang Monk for appeasing Sun Wukong. In a rage, Tang Seng wrote a derogatory letter and drove Monkey King back to Guoshan.

The shadow puppet show "Sun Wukong Three Fights the Bone Demon" combines the color, shape and pattern style of the Tangshan school of Hebei shadow puppetry, and is careful to preserve the essence of the shadow puppetry without losing its vividness.

 

05 Art Inheritance

In the eyes of children, shadow puppetry is a fairy under the lamp, which is novel and interesting; in the eyes of adults, shadow puppetry is full of national cultural heritage! From 2018 to 2021, "Ma's Shadow Puppetry" has performed more than 300 national tours, bringing wonderful shadow puppetry performances to many audiences one after another. Art.

"Small shadow puppets, great art", a few shadow puppets, singing and playing; joy, anger, sorrow and joy, fully show the various aspects of life. The art of the millennium heritage is integrated with the modern stage, and the ancient shadow puppets glow with more charming colors.

Classic Chinese quintessence, singing and reciting words, exquisite shadow puppetry, Mashi's shadow puppetry with a history of 100 years, will take us to experience the collision of light, shadow and color, and appreciate the beauty of traditional Chinese art!