Under a banyan tree by a village temple, two performers behind a black cloth on a bamboo frame raise rods to work a painted-face warrior puppet and a lady puppet. A man plays a suona and another beats a drum as villagers watch.
One central rod holds up a whole stage of characters
Introduction
Puppet plays worked on rods from below the screen, including iron-rod and firework puppets
Rod puppets are held up and worked by performers below or behind the screen; they are usually about three chi tall, with the head and body carried on one main rod and the hands moved by two more, and they sing in the tunes of the local opera. The national items are the puppet theatre of Gaozhou, the large puppets of northern Sichuan, Shiqian and Lingao (IV-92, 2006), the rod puppets of Yangzhou, Hunan, Xiaoyi, Zizhong, Shaanxi, Wuhan and Zhanjiang, Shanghai-style puppetry and the gongzai plays of Wenchang and Sanjiang; iron-rod puppets (Chaozhou, Jieyang), worked on three iron rods and sung in Teochew opera, and the firework puppets of Taishun, sent aloft by fireworks, are included as branches. Northern Song Kaifeng had 'the rod puppeteer Ren Xiaosan, who gave a short zaju every day at the fifth watch', and in Southern Song Hangzhou rod puppets were one of the main kinds of puppet show.
Timeline
- 1120OriginIn the entertainment quarters of late Northern Song Kaifeng, 'the rod puppeteer Ren Xiaosan gives a short zaju every day at the fifth watch; come a little late and you miss it'; the same book records 'Li Waining, firework puppets' (Dongjing menghua lu, juan 5).
- 1235EvolutionThe Southern Song Ducheng jisheng (1235) lists rod puppets with string, water and live-actor puppets and says the puppet plays 'act out romances, tales of the supernatural, cavalry battles and court cases'; the Wulin jiushi, juan 6, names rod puppeteers such as Zhang Xiao Puye.
- 1600EvolutionIn the Wanli years of the Ming, Gaozhou developed its rod puppets on the basis of Fujian glove puppetry; from the Qing, Chaozhou performers removed the shadow screen and turned paper shadows into round-bodied figures, creating iron-rod puppets worked on three iron rods and sung in Teochew opera.
- 2006ImpactIn 2006 the puppet theatre of Gaozhou, Chaozhou iron-rod puppets, Lingao renouxi, the large puppets of northern Sichuan, Shiqian puppetry and Taishun firework puppets entered the first national ICH list (IV-92); from 2008 to 2021 the rod puppets of Xiaoyi, Yangzhou, Hunan, Zizhong, Shaanxi, Wuhan and Zhanjiang, Shanghai-style puppetry, the gongzai plays of Wenchang and Sanjiang, Guangdong puppetry and Jieyang iron-rod puppets were added.
Heritage Listings
- 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · IV-92 Puppet theatre [no. 236: Gaozhou puppetry · Chaozhou iron-rod puppets · Lingao renouxi · northern Sichuan large puppets · Shiqian puppetry · Taishun firework puppets · Gaozhou and Chaozhou · Guangdong · Lingao · Hainan · Sichuan · Shiqian · Guizhou · Taishun · Zhejiang]
- 2008National ICH extension itemsIV-92 Puppet theatre: Xiaoyi puppetry · rod puppets [Yangzhou] · Hunan rod puppets · Wenchang and Sanjiang gongzai plays · Xiaoyi · Shanxi · Yangzhou · Jiangsu · Hunan Puppet and Shadow Theatre · Wenchang and Haikou · Hainan
- 2011National ICH extension itemsIV-92 Puppet theatre: Shanghai-style puppetry · rod puppets [Jiangsu] · Guangdong puppetry · Jieyang iron-rod puppets · Shanghai Puppet Theatre · Jiangsu Performing Arts Group · Guangdong Puppet Art Theatre · Jieyang · Guangdong
- 2014National ICH extension itemsIV-92 Puppet theatre: medium rod puppets [Zizhong] · Shaanxi rod puppets · Zizhong · Sichuan · Shaanxi
- 2021National ICH extension itemsIV-92 Puppet theatre: Wuhan rod puppets · Zhanjiang puppetry · Wuhan · Hubei · Chikan district · Zhanjiang · Guangdong